Impossible Impossiblity
by Lunan
Summary: Kuroba Kaito, magician. But what if real magic exists? Things get complicated and so much easier at the same time when Kaito steals a very special diamond, the world won't know what hit it! K/A S/R
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

An Early Birthday Present

xXx

Kuroba Kaito was many things, student, magician, prankster, all-around goofball/athlete, and a lovable nuisance.

He was also a diligent son and a meticulous strategist, along with having the most skilled hands in Japan.

Those skilled hands came in handy for his night job as the infamous Phantom Thief 1412, also known as Kaitou KID.

Ahh, life was good.

Nearly a full two years since his debut, only a day and a half to go to his second anniversary and he was deep in his plans.

At one o'clock in the morning, the day and hour of his eighteenth birthday, he was going to steal the world's only known Star Diamond, called the Morning Star's Tear. Sure, it was at minimum a hundred and fifty karats, flawless, with such a convoluted backstory of bloodshed that would make any historian's head spin to make it a perfect candidate for the Pandora, but Kaito had other reasons. His late father Toichi failed to retrieve the stone, his last target before he was murdered. The teen magician had found his father's diary tucked away in the hidden lair, and an entry mentioned his wanting to give the precious diamond to his only son as a birthday present.

Well, Kaito was getting that rock for his birthday come hell or high-water. The star diamond was being presented in a group of other precious and historical gems. Included in the set was a particularly large star sapphire, said to have been worn by a British queen, called the Cobalt Wish, and that was his announced target.

It was perfect. With all the attention on the larger gem the Morning Star Tear was all but forgotten. It wasn't his usual method, but Kaito was dead-set on getting it. The Tear was rumored to be a wizard's diamond, for it shone different colors in the right light when held by different hands. It was roughly the size of a small egg, perfectly spherical, the only thing separating the diamond from looking like an ordinary piece of clear glass was the faintly multicolored starburst in the center like a perfect starred ruby or sapphire.

The stage was set. Kaito celebrated his birthday on June 14th, Aoko was throwing him a birthday party that evening, so Kaitou KID had plenty of time on the actual hour of his birthday to go through with his plan.

Even luckier it was going to be on a Sunday, no long day in school to suffer through.

xXx

Sometimes it sucked to be a school kid in Japan, having to go to school six out of seven days a week, but that at least meant he got to see his best friend on a very regular basis.

He wasn't sure Aoko shared his sentiments, but if his antics got good reactions out of her than he was all for it. He'd been making a nuisance of himself to her ever since her mother died. Even now, years later, she still brooded unless Kaito did something to get her riled up. Minor, playful insults, pranks, and general mayhem got her up and chasing after him, faithful mop in hand.

It was too easy, so much it just wasn't a normal day without causing a scene. Fighting and banter was their routine.

Today however, was an exception. The days before and of certain birthdays and anniversaries were off limits, particularly hers. Ever since that first time that false KID notice got posted on her birthday a couple months after he first became the Kaitou he made it a double point to clear schedules. If an emergency came up it was out of his hands, but at least he tried and kept phantom thief business out of special days. Personally, Kaito was making plans to tone down his antics towards her, hopefully to get her to like him as possible boyfriend material, maybe deepening their relationship beyond just childhood friends.

Today Kaito cheerfully presented Aoko a rose cleverly made from feathers to her shock.

"Kaito! What are you doing?" she asked with an indignant squawk. "This had better not be a trick!"

Kaito playfully feigned hurt, pouting. "Aww, but I made it just for you!"

"For what?"

Kaito's expression softened to a genuine smile, catching her off guard. "I owe you for planning my birthday party don't I? What's wrong with a little thank you present?" he said, pinning the flower in her hair. "I even made it your favorite color!"

Aoko was speechless. "...you're serious, aren't you."

A statement, not a question.

"Yep. I owe you big for all my screw ups, and besides, I promised."

Amazing how quickly a little, thoughtful present could make a violent tomboy of a girl into a blushing maiden. The blue feather rose looked so fetching in her hair as she blushed.

"Tell you what, if I'm late, you get to soc me for it, m'k?"

Aoko only nodded, face pink. "S-sure, thank you Kaito."

Kaito grinned. Mission accomplished.

Now to just wait for midnight.

xXx

The night of the 13th drew to a close as the last minute till midnight faded away. A huge crowd had gathered at the museum where the heist was to take place, many spectators hoping to catch a glimpse of the infamous thief in the act. Inspector Nakamouri was working himself into a tizzy with his preparations to protect the Cobalt Wish sapphire. The time of the heist was hours later than normal, KID normally working hours before midnight, but that was a moot point.

Everything was in place. The sapphire in a special room filled to the walls with security and guards, traps and searchlights everywhere, every possible way in and out of the room covered.

Kaitou Kid laughed silently to himself, disguised as a patrolling guard. His route didn't even go into the sapphire's room, but it led directly into the presentation room where the other stones were held.

This was all too easy, just the way he planned.

He continued to patrol his assigned route until two minutes before one, then he shed his costume. His timing was excellent this time, being close to his target with minimal travel distance to take in his thief whites.

He didn't count on actual guards in the target room, but they were easily dealt with via sleep-gas. The case itself was laughably simple, and the alarm didn't even go off.

At the stroke of one, he held the precious diamond in his grasp. Pocketing it, he sped off, throwing a smoke bomb into the sapphire room, snagging the stone, and was out well before anyone knew what was happening.

It was the single quietest KID heist ever. No spectacle, so fight, no resistance.

On his way home, he spotted Aoko on her own way back after checking with her father. Feeling cheeky, he swooped down and landed lightly a few yards in front of her.

Aoko gasped as the ghostly white figure appeared. "Kaitou Kid!"

Kid gave the girl a sweeping bow. "The one and only milady." he said, voice low and suave. "And what is a lovely lady like yourself doing out so late hmm?"

Aoko growled. "None of your business you jerk! Why don't you just drop dead!"

Kid moaned theatrically, a hand to his heart as if wounded. "Oh now that hurts Nakamouri-san." he said with a joking smile, before sharpening his gaze. "I had only your best interests in mind, things far more dangerous than I prowl the darkness."

Aoko started, shocked at the unusual snap in the thief's voice.

"Why would you care?"

Kid smiled, monocle flashing in the faint light. "You are a remarkable girl, strong and prideful and I find that rather charming. It would be a great shame to see you hurt, to loose a warrior princess like yourself." he said, a faint laugh coloring his voice. "That, and a certain inspector would be devastated if something happened to his only daughter. Unlike most thieves, I hold a certain fondness for my adversaries amongst the law."

For all the white thief's lies, his statement was so genuine that Aoko could help but believe him.

Kid bowed once again, and turned as if to leave when something caught his eye.

He lunged back towards Aoko, twisting her around behind him as a shot rang out.

The inspector's daughter screamed as the phantom thief fell, crumpling to his knees.

The shooter approached, gun in hand, when all of a sudden Kid was engulfed in a cloud of smoke that left the gunman hacking up his lungs.

Aoko was taken in a whirl of white silk as the phantom thief swept her off her feet and up the side of a building. Repressing the urge to shriek she clung to Kid's silk covered shoulders for dear life as he carried her away from the street and the shooter. After what seemed scant moment in the Kaitou's arms she opened her eyes to find herself startlingly close to her house.

Kaito stopped, breathing rapidly in shock. He had covered a full two miles in two minutes over unevenly spaced rooftops. Putting Aoko down he shivered, wheezing as he held a hand over his heart, where the bullet struck.

The girl noticed this, the bullet hole in his pristine white suit. In panic she ripped his hand away to check, and to her and the thief's utter shock she pulled the bullet from between the layers of his clothing, bloodless.

"What in the world?"

Kaito patted down his front, coming up with only the sapphire in his right hip pocket, but the diamond from his left inner breast pocket was gone. He could still feel the impact of the bullet, but he was completely unharmed.

"Are you alright?" Aoko asked gingerly, putting a hand over the hole in his jacket, over his heart. She was surprised to feel youthfully firm muscles under the silk, not the bulkier feel of an older man.

Kaito jumped ever so slightly at her touch, but kept his head down to shield his face with the brim of his hat. "I'm alright. The bullet hit a diamond in my pocket. I'll have a spectacular bruise in the morning, but I'll live."

He straightened and offered his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. "Shall I escort you the rest of the way home Nakamouri-san? If only to make certain you arrive there safely?" he asked in a level, normal tone.

Aoko blinked, but acquiesced. "I guess so. You could have died, saving me. I owe you that much."

Kid smiled and gently picked her up bridal style, bounding across the last few rooftops and down the sides of balconies to ground level right in front of her house. Setting her back of her feet he bowed to her once again.

"Take care Nakamouri-san."

"Aoko."

Kid quirked a brow. "Pardon?"

"You can call me Aoko."

A smile. "As you wish, Aoko." he said, taking her small hand in his and kissing it.

He vanished, flitting out of sight along the rooftops.

Aoko looked at her hand, a blush across her face, and felt a weight in her fingers. Opening her palm, she discovered the sapphire the thief had stolen, along with a note.

'Take care, my lady.'

Aoko shook her head, blushing harder. When she went to sleep later, her dreams were filled with the handsome thief, or more accurately, his body and ever-so-sexy voice, that she woke up hot and flustered.

"Baka thief." she grumbled, turning over and going back to sleep.

xXx

A few miles away Kaito found himself panting on top of a fifty storey building with no recollection of how he got there.

Taking off his hat to swipe away the sweat forming on his brow he slid down to sit against the barrier of the roof. He searched his pockets again, but the diamond was still gone.

"Dammit! What the hell happened to it?" he spat, cursing. "Shit! If I ever see that man again I'm gonna castrate him!"

"_That no nice thing to say."_

The second voice made Kaito stiffen. "Who's there?"

There was a strange rustling whisper, and he felt a weight slide down from his shoulder into his lap. A faint shimmer, like moonlight over snow, and a small form coalesced into visible shape.

A dragon.

A small, catlike little dragon, with a spade-shaped head, large dark eyes, rounded feet and a finned tail. It had ear-like protrusions on the back of it's head that looked a cross between a cat and a deer's ears, highly expressive combined with it's wide eyes set in it's opal-white face.

The little creature blinked at him and made a small chuffing sound, rearing back on it's hindpaws to rest it's forefeet against Kaito's chest.

"_You okie-kay? You look pale."_

As accustomed to the oddities of the world as he was, it took all Kaito had to not freak out.

The dragon tilted it's head from side to side, studying him. _"You funny human."_ came the small voice again, only this time Kaito realized it was _inside _his head. The childish grammar and voice only cemented the oddness. _"You smell like thick magic, like roses."_

"W-what the hell are you?"

Big eyes blinked._ "Me Plume. Momma say me your familiar now. Momma say my master gonna be really great magician."_ a rumbling squeak accentuated it's statement. _"You magician right?"_

Kaito nodded. "Yeah, I'm a magician."

Plume chuffed again and rubbed his little scaley head against Kaito's cheek. _"Yay! Nice to meet you Master! We be best buddies, right?"_

"But what are you? Last I heard cats were the popular witch pets."

Plume looked about as insulted as a dragon could look. _"Witches nasty, they mean and curse people! Dragons no like them, they always killing us to make nasty spells and potions. Like wizards and magicians lots more than witches!"_

"So I'm not a witch huh? But I'm just a stage kind of magician..."

Plume licked his cheek. _"Nuh-uh. You good magician! Lots real magic! Momma say so! Momma say only real magician from phantom family use Star Tear."_

Kaito's eyes widened. "Use the Star Tear? But it's gone!"

"_Tear not gone, Master have Tear! Tear in Master's Heart!"_

"In my heart?"

"_Momma say Tear stay in magician heart. Magician bring out Tear with feeling! Master make picture in head of Tear come out from Heart!"_

Puzzled, Kaito put a hand to his heart and did as the little dragon said, picturing the diamond appearing from his chest. He was rewarded by a sudden weight in his hand.

"How...how did I do that?"

"_Tear like Master! Tear make Master strong! Make Plume strong! Bring Plume to Master!"_

Kaito stared at the jewel, suddenly feeling very tired. Looking around, he realized just where he was.

He was only just a few buildings south of Tokyo Tower, several districts away from home!

"Oh shit! How'd I get here?"

"_Master no feel good?"_

At Plume's innocent question fatigue crashed down on him. "No, I don't feel so good." he said, clutching the diamond in one hand, but tentatively patting Plume's little head with the other. "I've got no idea how I'm getting home, I don't think I can even walk right now."

The dragon purred cutely and wound himself up and around Kaito's shoulders. _"Me take care of that! Master picture home in head real hard, Plume take care of rest!"_

Bemused, Kaito complied. Closing his eyes he pictured his bedroom, every detail that came to mind in his exhausted state, and a feeling like a breeze of warm air fell over him.

A faint sensation of falling for a very short time, then landing on a bed, his bed.

Unbelievable, he was home. Dragging himself upright he changed out of his thief whites and into his nightclothes, the little dragon leaving his shoulders only long enough for the switch in attire before it was firmly ensconced around his neck again. Kaito settled into bed, Plume snuggled against his neck.

"How did you get us here?"

The dragon purred. _"Plume special dragon! Me make move thing Master want move, even Master! Me use Master's magic with bond, we together for life."_

"So you can do things I can't huh?"

"_Master learn soon, me assistant."_

Kaito smiled. "An assistant? I like the sound of that. You're gonna have to tell me everything later, just don't let Mom see you, ok?"

"_Okie-kay Master, no let Master's momma see Plume. Sleepy tight."_

"Goodnight then, don't be scared if I accidentally squish you in my sleep, I'm a restless sleeper."

"_Me okie-kay, no worry Master."_

"Fine then, goodnight."

XxX

AN: Ack! I completely forgot to put this in the first time! I don't know what it is, but something keeps deleting my page breaks.

Anyway, I recently got hooked on Detective Conan and Magic Kaitou, and given all the strange things that run rampant through my overactive imagination, this is the product. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Learning Curve

xXx

Kaito woke late the next morning, feeling like he hadn't slept in a week. Groaning, he levered himself out of bed and trudged to the bathroom, hoping a good hot shower and maybe a soak in the bath would wake him up a bit.

His mother met him halfway there, her eyes full of concern.

"Kai-chan, are you alright?" she asked, feeling his forehead for a fever. "You look awful!"

"'m ok." he mumbled. "Weird-ass dream after work."

"Oh? What about?"

Sometimes it really helped that his mother was in the know on his 'night job'. He could tell her things and she would never betray his trust.

"It was weird, first I met Aoko as Kid, got shot protecting her, and carried her all the way to her house in like two minutes! There was a bullet in my jacket, but no blood! She was worried for Kid too, told him to call her by name!"

Meimi Kuroba gave him a sympathetic smile. "Perhaps that's what you'd really like to do, be Aoko-chan's hero and sweep her off her feet. How romantic. Did you give her a gift as Kid?"

"Yeah, I left the sapphire with her, kissed her hand." he said, blushing. "Then things got weirder, and all of a sudden I was on top of a skyscraper with a talking dragon in my lap!"

Meimi laughed. "Well, that is a strange dream. Tell you what, you go take a nice long bath and I'll get some breakfast together, your favorites, alright? Aoko-chan said she'll come get you at six tonight."

"'k, thanks mom."

His mom patted him on the head and turned back to the kitchen, letting her son head for the bath.

Lucky for him the bath was already hot. Meimi must have prepared it earlier in the morning for him. Stripping out of his pajamas he tossed them aside and started the shower. Reaching for his shampoo he noticed a twinge on the left side of his chest, and looked down to see a dark purple bruise just over his heart.

"Huh? When did that happen?" he wondered aloud, gently prodding the bruise, hissing in pain. "That's where I got hit in the...dream..."

"_Why Master getting wet?"_

"GYAH!"

Kaito slipped and fell to the shower floor. "What the hell!"

Plume reappeared at his feet, watching the water fall from the showerhead. _"Where water come from?"_ he asked, his little tongue sticking out to catch the droplets. _"Why rain hot?"_

Kaito steadied his breathing. "Ok, so it wasn't a dream, I've got a talking dragon in my shower."

"_What 'shower'?"_

"Um, it's something us humans use to get clean. Running water helps wash dirt away." Kaito explained.

"_Why no use bath?"_

"Because Japanese people like getting clean before soaking in a hot bath, keeps the water clean."

The little dragon blinked doleful eyes at him. _"Okie-kay, me understand."_ he said. _"Humans funny."_

Kaito shook his head and shampooed his hair, watching his familiar chase bubbles in amusement. After scrubbing his skin and shaving he scooped up the little beast and gave it a good soaping before getting into the bath.

Plume was rather indignant at being scrubbed down the way he was, but was easily placated by a thorough petting and getting to paddle around the hot water.

"_Humans funny, make water hot with no fire."_ he quipped, nosing Kaito's shoulder. _"What Master do later?"_

"Well, I've got to explain you to my mom, you need to tell me more about this magic and the diamond, and I've got a birthday party this evening."

"_What 'birthday'?"_

Kaito blinked. "You don't know what a birthday is?"

"_Plume little, no know much. Momma no tell Plume about humans."_

"So, you're just a baby then."

"_Me little hatchling, see two suns since hatching."_

"Whoa, you're only two days old?"

"_Dragon learn things in egg."_ Plume said simply, as if restating common knowledge. _"Momma tell stories, things hatchling need know."_

"Ok, so you know everything a dragon needs to know to survive, but not anything about humans?"

"_Yep."_

"Then what about magic?"

"_Plume give Master magic book, magician learn from Incantus."_ said the little dragon. _"Tear work with book, help Master learn!"_

Kaito nodded, then started. "Wait a minute! Where's the Tear?"

"_Plume put Tear back in Master's Heart, all okie-kay."_

The thief relaxed and let himself just soak, allowing the hot water to ease away his aches and pains.

xXx

If it weren't for the little dragon Kaito would have fallen asleep in the tub. Feeling refreshed he got dressed and joined his mother in the kitchen, Plume invisible on his shoulder.

As promised Meimi had an impressive spread of food ready, smiling as her son sat at the table.

"Hey honey, feeling better?"

"Yeah mom, just a bit sore." he said, tugging at his shirt. "I need you to look at something."

Instantly on the alert she was at his side. "What is it? Did you get hurt on the job?"

"Kind of." he said, pulling open his collar to reveal the nasty bruise.

Meimi gasped. "Oh Kaito! How did this happen!"

"Remember that dream I told you about?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"It wasn't a dream like I thought earlier. That's where I got shot."

Meimi was used to the improbable, able to brush off some of the strangest things without batting an eyelash, but this was her son talking about getting a gunshot wound.

"...Kaito, if this is where you were shot then you'd be dead..."

"Remember the diamond I wanted to get? It was in that pocket. Aoko was really there, she pulled the bullet out of my pocket when she looked for it. I couldn't find the diamond, or even pieces of it." he told her, voice even. "I don't know how I did it, but I got both of us two miles away from the gunman in two minutes."

Meimi looked at the bruise again. "Then what happened next?"

"I gave her the sapphire, it wasn't the Pandora, then I was on top of a skyscraper three districts over, just south of the Tokyo Tower."

He held his hand to his heart and concentrated. The Tear appeared in his hand, and he showed it to his mother.

"Here's the diamond mom." he said, then tapped Plume's invisible head. "And here's the dragon."

Plume appeared with the same faint shimmer to Meimi's shock. He blinked his big dark eyes at the woman and cooed.

Meimi just about melted at the cuteness of the little creature. "Ooh Kaito! It's adorable!" she gasped, putting out a hand to touch it. "May I?"

Plume obliged her, putting his little head out to her fingers, purring. _"Me like Master's Momma, she nice."_

"His name's Plume. He said that he's my familiar now, and that the Morning Star's Tear is magical."

"Oh Kaito, real magic? Your father went on and on about it, about how he wanted to get you that diamond so you could have what he never learned. He told me that his family was a long line of genuine magicians, but the treasures were stolen long ago. That diamond belonged to your great-great-great-great-grandmother. She was killed in Europe for being a witch."

Plume snorted. _"Clover lady no witch, Master's family magician!"_

Kaito frowned. "Was her name Clover?" he asked.

"No honey, Clover was the family name. The name changed to Kuroba when your father's family came to Japan."

"Huh, that's different." Kaito shrugged and tucked into breakfast. Plume came down from his shoulder and sniffed at the various dishes. It was half traditional Japanese breakfast, half western.

"Well little one, what would you like to eat?" Meimi cooed over the dragon.

Kaito looked up. "Good question. Plume, what do you normally eat?"

Plume nosed a pickled radish slice curiously. _"Me no know, food here funny."_

"Mom, I don't think he knows. Think you can put a little bit of everything on a plate for him? See what he likes?"

Meimi smiled. "Sure thing sweetheart." she said, getting another plate and filling it with various morsels. "Here you go."

Plume nibbled a little bit of everything, but settled on a vegetable-cheese omelet and a breakfast sausage._ "This tasty, me like!"_

"Well, nice to know he's easy to please." Kaito remarked. "But if you're going to be with me all the time, I don't know if just staying invisible is going to cut it."

Plume snapped up the last of his sausage and hummed._ "Me no have to look like dragon, lookie lookie!" _he said, scurrying up Kaito's arm and around his neck. A small poof of smoke and a little white cat with dark eyes and a fluffy tail lay curled around the teen's shoulders.

Meimi squealed and scooped up the cat, snuggling it. "Ooh it's just too cute! He's perfect!"

Plume purred and licked the woman's cheek. _"Me likey, she warm."_

Kaito laughed. "Don't squish him Mom."

"Oh I won't, he's just so cute." she said. "So now what?"

"I'm supposed to get some sort of magic book."

Plume perked up and changed back into a dragon. _"Me remember Master, lookie here!"_

He escaped Meimi's hold and circled rapidly on a clear spot on the table until he caught his own tailtip. In another poof of smoke there was a heavy thump and a large leather-bound tome landed on the tabletop.

The book was a rich black color, detailed with silver burnishing along the edges and a ornate silver lock. The cover of the book had an exquisitely detailed dragon chasing it's tail in mother-of-pearl, it's eyes made of dark stones. The lock itself had a four leaf clover made of diamonds.

"Wow."

"_See! Plume bring Master Incantus!" _said the little dragon, sitting proudly on top of the book._ "Momma say book belong to Master's ancestor!"_

"So...how do I open it?"

"_Master touch Tear to lock."_

Kaito did so, and the lock sprang open. Awed, he opened the heavy tome, and was surprised to see perfectly legible Japanese text.

"Ok, if this book's over a hundred years old from Europe, how come it's in Japanese?"

Meimi looked puzzled. "Honey, all I see is odd symbols."

"_Incantus make letters look like Master's language! Master learn to read Quitessial later."_

Kaito nodded. "Makes sense, magic book. If I'm the only one that can read it, that means no one gets the secrets, right?"

"_Yep."_

Meimi shrugged. "Well honey, if you're done eating, you might as well take a closer look at that book. I'll call you when Aoko get's here."

Kaito nodded. "Sure Mom." he said, not looking away from the book in his arms. "Later then."

xXx

The Incantus was absolutely fascinating. Every time he opened it, new information would appear until Plume taught him how to direct the book to show him what he wanted to see.

At the moment he was studying a beginner's spell for conjuring lights, the foundation of illusions. The book stated that illusion was a magician's most basic tool, the method one relied on most to elude, confuse, redirect, and capture. If he mastered this skill, he could trap a person in an illusionary world, the cage without bars.

Already he had managed to make a small sphere of light in his palms. The steps were surprisingly simple, relying mostly on the magician's mental discipline.

The most powerful force in directing magic was all about _intention_. If he wanted something to happen, he had to concentrate.

Having the Tear out and on his person helped a lot, but he was getting frustrated.

"Arg, how am I supposed to hold this thing and do my magic at the same time?"

Plume watched him from his position on Kaito's pillow. _"Maybe put Tear on necklace?"_

"But it's a large marble Plume, they don't exactly make settings for round stones."

"_Master make own setting?"_

"As if, I might be a jewel thief, but I'm no jeweler."

As if called, Kaito's mother stuck her head in the door. "Having trouble Kai-chan?"

Kaito sighed. "Yeah. I get tired pretty quick if I don't have the diamond out, but I can't keep it in a pocket or something or I could loose it!"

Meimi's eyes lit up. "Give me a moment, I think I have something."

A minute later she returned with a jewelry box. "Here, your father had this made for me as a wedding present, maybe the setting will fit your diamond." she said, opening the box to reveal a necklace made from a glass marble with a clover in it's center, roughly the size of the Tear. The setting was made of silver, four prongs to cage the stone in a solid grip.

Kaito took the necklace gingerly. "But Mom, it was your wedding present..."

Meimi smiled. "It's alright Kai-chan. Your father would have wanted you to have it, just like he wanted you to have that diamond. Take it, as your birthday present."

Kaito smiled back at his mother. "Thanks Mom."

Gently, he levered the marble out of the setting, and replaced it with the Tear. It was a perfect fit.

Meimi kissed her son on the top of his head and fastened the chain around his neck. "Happy Birthday Kaito."

"Thank you, you and Dad."

Practice went much better after that, and by the time six o'clock rolled around he had mastered the first step of illusion.

Aoko came right on time, dressed in a fetching blue dress and the feather rose Kaito had given her yesterday in her hair. Meimi let her in and offered her tea.

"I'll tell Kaito you're here dear, he's been reading this book he got for his birthday all afternoon."

Aoko rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, more magic tricks?"

Meimi smiled. "Right in one Aoko-chan."

Five minutes later Kaito came out, dressed in a white blazer over a blue dress shirt and black slacks. He smelt faintly of cologne and had even tamed his hair slightly.

Aoko studied him, pleased. "Nice to know you can dress up, even a little." she quipped.

Kaito grinned. "You like it? Awesome!" he said cheerfully. "So where's this party gonna be at?" he asked.

"It's at the restaurant downtown, that one with the arcade."

"They accept animals?"

That question threw her for a loop. "What?"

Kaito laughed and held up Plume, in his kitten form. "Aoko, meet Shiro." he said, a cheeky grin on his face.

As he predicted, Aoko squealed at the cute, furry face. "Ooh Kaito! He's adorable!" she said, cuddling the kitten. "When did you get him?"

"Last night. Little guy looked so lonely in that cage at the pet store, so I took him home and he's been clinging to me ever since."

Aoko cooed as the kitten purred. "He's precious Kaito, but I don't think he'll like being in such a noisy place. I think you'll have to leave him home."

Kaito shrugged. "Meh, probably for the best." he said, taking Plume back and heading down the hall. "I'll put him back in my room."

Plume pawed his master. _"Me wanna go with you!"_

Kaito shook his head. "No Plume, I don't want to risk you getting hurt. You're still a baby and it's going to be crazy at the party. Stay here and keep my mom company, ok?"

Plume crinkled his little nose, but complied. _"Okie-kay, me stay and keep Master's Momma company."_

Kaito smiled and left the dragon on his pillow. "Behave yourself, I'll be back in a few hours."

XxX

Yay! Installment two! This is going better than so many of my other fics, I keep writing them and forgetting to upload.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Next Steps

xXx

As far as birthday parties went for Kaito, this one was fairly tame. No one spiked the drinks, no fights, and no harassment from a certain detective. Heck, even Akako the witch was well behaved. Kaito obliged the crowd with some of his magic tricks, capturing the attention of the multitude of children at the restaurant.

Kaito got several presents. Akako gave him a charm in the guise of a bracelet (which he avoided), a novel about a magician that solved crimes from Hakuba, and a 'Dummy's' book on magic from Keiko (a good laugh from everyone).

Aoko surprised him though, with a black silk top hat and a pair of white gloves just like his father used to wear. When asked, she merely smiled and commented that a magician should always have a real top hat.

The party went, everyone having a good time until they went their separate ways to head home. Kaito walked home with Aoko, enjoying the city at nighttime.

"Ne, Kaito?" Aoko asked quietly. "Where did you get that necklace?"

Kaito looked down at the pendant. "Well, it's from my father. He had it made for me when I was a baby, for my eighteenth birthday. Mom gave it to me this morning."

"It's pretty."

"Thanks."

A few minutes in silence, then...

"Kaito? Did you hear about the heist last night?"

Kaito paused. "Not really, no."

"Dad said Kid made off with two gems, that sapphire and a diamond. Kid gave me the sapphire, but..."

"Oh? But what?"

Aoko blushed. "He gave it to me after saving me from a mugger."

Kaito fought very, very hard not to laugh. 'Poker face, keep up your poker face Kaito!' "Really, is that all?"

"Yes! That's all!"

They walked home in companionable silence. After dropping Aoko off at her home, he finally cracked and burst out laughing.

Ahh, life was good.

-xXx

The next week and a half went smoothly. No heists, murders, fake warning letters, or other items of interest. Kaito brought little attention to himself, concentrating on his new magical studies.

Nearly everyone caught on to this strange (for him) behavior, Aoko especially.

"Kaito, is something wrong?" she asked tentatively after school Thursday afternoon. "You've been really quiet lately."

Kaito didn't answer right away, causing Aoko to smack him.

"Whoa! What was that for?"

"Listen when I'm talking to you Ba-kaito! You've been acting weird lately and I want to know why!"

The teen magician smiled. "It's nothing, I've just had a few things on my mind, that's all." he said placatingly. "I found some of dad's old journals and I've been going through them, there's a lot of stuff in those to think about."

Aoko looked suspicious, but stood down. "If you're lying to me, my mop is going to be the least of your worries!"

"Hai hai! I get it!"

In reality, Kaito was experimenting with his magic. So far he had mastered basic illusion and was working on levitation. He could make a very convincing impression of any person he'd ever seen, both as separate entities and as masks over his body. The moment he mastered levitation he was going to plan a heist.

Nothing like on the job experience to hone one's skills.

-xXx

Another two days and he had levitation down pat. He could fly farther and faster on his hang-glider than before with magic negating most of his weight, as well as hovering above surfaces with minimal effort.

The next Wednesday there was going to be an exhibition of French crown jewels rumored to have belonged to Napoleon. It was hard to tell, given the...ahem, 'crown jewel' of the exhibit was in fact a crown, but it was the spectacular yellow diamond in it that Kid was after.

The game was set. At eleven fifty-one Kaitou Kid was going to strike.

Target, the Illuminance Crown.

At eleven forty-nine Kid crouched perched on a nearby building across from the luxury hotel where the jewels were being displayed. Plume lay curled around his neck, his usual place, observing the multitude of Kid fans milling below.

"_People come to see Master?"_ he asked, confused. _"Me told humans no like thief, why?"_

Kid chuckled. "Well my little friend, it's all about the performance. High-profile thieves that run circles around the police in public tend to gather crowds, and besides, I'm a magician that needs an audience."

Plume snorted, a little puff of vapor puffing out of his nostrils. Given that the dragon was still an infant he was unable to breathe actual fire, but made up for it with sheer variety of smokes, ooze, and venoms.

"_Me say before, humans funny."_

Kid laughed, then launched himself from the building, spreading his glider to catch the air as he soared to the target.

The crowd below noticed his flying form, as did the police. The officers radioed Inspector Nakamouri frantically.

'Kid is here! He's coming with the glider!'

Hakuba, present as usual, was stunned at the announcement. Kid never, ever approached so obviously. Going to the window he saw the telltale white shape above, until it vanished.

"Shit! It has to be a decoy! All officers search the area!"

-xXx

Kid cackled fiendishly, safe and sound many floors below. Plume had been an immense help with that little trick, shifting him from two hundred yards above the roof to the second floor, deep inside the building. He had taken advantage of Kaito's connection with Nakamouri to survey the hotel for the best possible spot to land.

With a grin he wrapped himself in darkness and swiftly made his way to the penthouse ballroom. Every officer he passed neither saw nor heard anything until he reached the ballroom and landed catlike on the display case.

An explosion of light and sound alerted the guards to the Kaitou's presence, showering them with confetti.

"Good Evening Gentlemen!" Kid announced. "Tonight, for your chasing pleasure, Kaitou Kid! Catch him if you can!"

"Damn you KID!" yelled Nakamouri. "Get him men!"

The assembled men pounced, but Kid was too fast. A swish of his silk mantle and he was on the other end of the room, the crown from the display case twirling on his finger.

"Tsk tsk, can't you do any better Keibu? And you, Tantei-san, you must be slipping!"

Hakuba growled. "Go to hell!"

"To late to say that, Tantei-san, when we are already there."

The teen detective had only time to widen his eyes in shock before the scene around him became a vision straight out of Dante's Inferno. Standing in front of him, lit by the glow of the flames, was Kid.

Kid grinned, his teeth shining abnormally bright. "Life _is _a hell Tantei-san." he said as the illusion broke. "I don't have much time to chat, so until next time gentlemen!"

A flash, and the thief was gone.

A manhunt ensued, but no trace of the white phantom was found until someone spotted him walking ever so calmly across the gap between two buildings, forty feet above any support.

From then on, media and police alike claimed that the phantom thief was more 'phantom' than 'thief'.

-xXx

The next two months followed a fairly straightforward pattern for Kaito, study, school, practice, and the occasional heist. He cut it pretty close one night when he decided to drop in an Aoko while in costume, but the 'ink mask' spell he was trying worked better than he expected.

Said 'mask' was a special ink made with magic and dragon venom. When drawn on the face in certain patterns it created effects to minimize recognition. The Incantus had a rather technical explanation on just how that worked, but Kaito never quite bothered with it.

Other tricks included a rather spectacular array of new thief's tools. A run of the mill chemistry set worked wonders for distilling poisons, sleep agents, effect smoke bombs, and the stickiest adhesive he'd ever come across.

Plume was a great help, being the source of many of the poisons he used, not to mention the active ingredient of the adhesive goop. He could produce sleep agent toxins, nerve toxins, smoke, and a peculiar venom that when distilled and in right amounts, made an excellent meditation aid.

Currently he was reading up on this particular venom. When taken in minor doses it shut down the body to allow higher brain function, but had a peculiar side effect of being an extremely powerful anti-toxin. The serum, called Alhelios Tincture, was made from venom and herbal agents that induced sleep.

He learned the hard way that one shouldn't play with the stuff when he accidentally dosed himself at school. He'd been messing with some undiluted Tincture just before he left home and spilled some over his hands without washing it off. The residue was still on his hands two hours later, and when Aoko smacked his hand with a ruler his first response was to put the pained fingers in his mouth. Fifteen minutes after that he passed out in the science lab, to the shock and panic of his classmates.

Hakuba guessed somewhat correctly that he'd poisoned himself by accident in the lab, given that they were working with somewhat volatile chemicals. Kaito didn't bother correcting him, and took much greater care with the venom from then on. None of the poisons he worked with were fatal on their own, but most had rather compromising effects.

Well, at least he caught up on several hours of sleep that day...

Lesson learned, he always handled his poisons with care, gloves, and always washed his hands. After learning a favorite magician's trick called 'Pocket Space', he was able to keep a massive arsenal on hand and undetectably. In an instant he could swap out his clothes for his costume, and with a flick of his fingers could have any tool, weapon, or other item in his hands from nowhere. He had the best of times testing new prank products on his classmates and honing his skills, laughing himself silly the one time he stuck Hakuba to the wall with his special adhesive.

Life was good.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Strikes

Things were going swimmingly for the Phantom Thief over the next several months, even appearing in Rome one evening and stealing a number of artifacts from the vault of the Vatican itself! The pilfered items were found carefully packaged in a box the next evening in the Pope's own study with a bottle of good wine and an apology note to the pope, causing new heights of confusion when Kid showed up back in Tokyo only two hours later.

Another impossible feat included the theft of the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian Museum in D.C. The necklace appeared in an explosion of confetti on the president's desk three days later, while Kid was currently on a heist in Japan.

Multiple cases like this took the world by storm. Famous, large jewels and other items were stolen and returned in the most impossible of ways. One was returned in the owner's morning teacup of all things.

The only stones not returned to their owners or institutions were illegally or crime owned, said criminals often arrested with incriminating evidence given to the police by Kid himself and the gems showing up at charity auctions after the prosecution was finalized.

Even other organized crime rings not related to jewel theft or insurance scams were taken down. Kaitou Kid was cleaning the world of organized crime, one syndicate at a time.

Detectives like Hakuba were at the point of pulling their own hair out each time a new criminal was handed gift-wrapped to them by Kid. This string of vigilante work was confusing the hell out of the world's law enforcement.

However, one detective in particular was looking at it differently.

Edogawa Conan, his real name Kudou Shinichi, smelled something off about Kid's actions. The new notices since June bore a new signature symbol for one thing. A four leaf clover encircled by an Uroboros, the dragon biting it's own tail. It was a custom made stamp, not hand drawn like the caricatures from before. The warning letters were also now made from handmade paper sealed with white wax seals of the same signature.

The four leaf clover was a common symbol of luck, while the Uroboros was an ancient alchemical symbol of eternity, the cycle of life, or unity. The details in both portions of the symbol resembled runes, and the dragon had full wings unlike most portrayals. This suggested that Kid had a respect for this obviously powerful imagery.

These new details could be a herald of change in Kid's methods, his motives, beliefs, possible superiors, or a new KID.

Conan smelled something fishy, and it wasn't the salmon Ran was cooking for dinner.

Kid's sudden change in style and tactics was alarming, as was his targeting of organized crime. The Kaitou's new tricks were also ringing alarm bells, especially that adhesive that could hang a tank from a wall, he'd seen it happen in a history museum Kid hit up. New sleep gas, smoke bombs that were pure black or turned everything they touched sticky or different colors, new acids, paralyzing nerve gas, and the ability to vanish without special effects in plain view. Also, the Phantom thief was now able to walk in thin air, through areas proven to have no support structures or wires, and conjure images in a massive scale.

Another point was that Kid was getting hit by snipers more frequently, several confirmed hits, but the thief was up and about as few as two days later. That, and any of his blood found at scenes contained unidentifiable agents that made it impossible to genetically ID him.

The thief was getting better, and making it harder and harder to see through his magic. His motives were still unknown, but the instances of gunfire at heists from third party shooters were becoming more common.

The situation was escalating, but for Conan, his big break in the case would come at a heist, at risk of his own life.

-xXx

It was nice of Ran to oblige his wish to see a Kid heist in person, and his first-grader friends tagged along, spouting nonsense about catching the phantom themselves.

During the excitement preceding the announced time, Conan noticed a black-clad figure on the building across from the department store, a tell-tale case of a sniper rifle under one arm.

The hat and coat matched the Black Organization's uniform, and it looked like the man was after the Kid's life.

Throwing caution to the wind the shrunken detective followed the sniper.

On the roof of the facing building the sniper was set up and waiting for Kid's appearance. Conan kept a close eye on him, watching for a sign that he was about to shoot and waiting with his power sneakers turned on and waiting to kick a chunk of concrete at the man.

Neither had to wait long, but the sniper was faster than the detective and shot off a round at the white figure on the opposite roof, hitting him.

Conan swore and launched his kick, but made a rare miss and only knocked the man's hat off.

The tall, black-clad man pounced on the child, and held him in a headlock, cursing.

"Fucking brat! What the hell are you doing here?"

Conan struggled and kicked to no use. "I wasn't going to let you kill Kid! Why are you people after him?"

The dark man growled and brought out a case that Conan recognized all too well, opening it to reveal capsules of the same poison that he'd been subjected to before.

Conan froze, then renewed his struggles, kicking and swearing loudly.

The man chuckled darkly and shoved a capsule down his throat roughly, holding a hand over Conan's mouth until he felt the boy swallow involuntarily.

Suddenly, a large weight slammed into the man and made him drop Conan in a flurry of white.

Standing on the man's back was Kaitou Kid, white silk jacket red with blood at the side. He panted, but seemed otherwise unfazed.

With a sneer the thief sprayed a thick gas in the man's face and the assassin fell limp. Straightening, he walked over to Conan and grabbed the boy's shoulders.

"Are you alright Tantei-kun? Did he do something to you?"

The detective gulped nervously, a cold sweat forming. "He...he made me swallow something! I think it's poison!" he squeaked in his best little kid voice.

Before Conan could say anything further Kid rammed him in the stomach hard enough to make him vomit.

When he'd heaved up his dinner he straightened. "W-what was that for?"

"Had to get the poison out of your stomach before it absorbed into your blood." Kid said, bringing out a tiny vial of something. "Drink this, it's an antitoxin. It'll make you very sleepy, but it'll fight off the poison."

Conan glared at him. "Why should I trust you?"

"Let's just say I have a vested interest in keeping you alive."

The detective took the tiny glass vial from white gloved hands. "So I just drink this?"

"Yeah, five to fifteen minutes you'll be out cold, but it'll clear your body of poison."

"How'd you get this?"

"Made it, and yes, I know it works and even used it on myself. When you get back to your friends take it and hide the vial. I will contact you in five days."

With that, the thief vanished, leaving the detective to make his way back to Ran and the others. Once there, he downed the serum in the vial and tucked the glass back in his pocket.

Ten minutes later he was unconscious and Ran carried him home.

-xXx

Apparently the antitoxin was extremely potent, strong enough to temporarily revert Conan's body back to Shinichi. The transformation woke him in the middle of the night, and lasted for a solid six hours. Thankfully no one else was awake enough to notice.

Intrigued, Conan waited for Kid to contact him like he said.

-xXx

Five days after the last heist Conan was at Agasa's house, explaining in detail what happened to Haibara and the Professor.

The shrunken chemist was stunned to hear someone else had developed an antidote that worked better than any of her attempts, and furious that it was Kaitou Kid of all people. The normally quiet and reserved blonde was in the middle of swearing a blue streak when there was a knock at the lab door.

The professor and two faux children looked up to see Kid standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets.

"Well now, that isn't very ladylike language missy." he drawled. "If I didn't know better I would say you were so much older, must be me."

Haibara huffed and turned away. "I have nothing to say to you thief."

"Good, I have nothing to really say to you either." Kid said, adjusting his monocle. "I have things to discuss with Tantei-kun. I will return him in six hours."

Conan blinked. "'Return?'"

Kid only smirked and swept the boy up in his cape, vanishing.

-xXx

Shinichi had experienced a lot in his life, being shot, stabbed, pushed off railings, drugged, poisoned, smothered, cut, bruised, and caught in explosions. Of all these things, this sensation of intense movement, but not momentum, was the most disorienting. In a whirl of white he was suddenly no longer in Agasa's house, falling somewhere...different.

Strong hands steadied him before he fell flat on his face, placing him gently in a large, very comfy chair. As his vision returned to him he noticed Kid hovering over him.

"What did you just do?" he asked.

Kid smiled. "Brought you to my place Tantei-kun. This is my hideout."

The shrunken detective's eyes widened and he looked around.

It was obviously underground, concrete walls and track lighting, but there was a large garage sized door at the far end. A tunnel, obviously.

Everything else however was a random mixture. Airplane and glider models hung from the high ceiling, and a pinball machine in one corner with a magician's stage chest. A mad scientist-style collection of glass, beakers, and other paraphernalia on a long table at one wall, next to a massive metal cabinet had to be containing combustibles and a large drafting desk nearby. On the other side of the room from this was a parked white sports car, roughly from ten or so years ago, probably not in working condition and lacking any kind of tags.

Where he was sitting was a carpeted area containing the armchair he was sitting in, facing a large plasma tv screen with a collection of game consoles and neatly stacked disk cases below it, a wide office desk to one side with a high-backed chair covered in scattered papers and a sleek computer. Opposing the desk was a wall of seven foot high mirrors, one turned to reveal part of a wardrobe, a white sleeve dangling in view.

The whole place was eclectic, but organized and clean, clearly a daily working space.

"So, what do you think?"

Shinichi looked to Kid again to see...himself?

Kid had removed his hat and monocle, and his face was unbelievably like Shinichi's true age. As if sensing the question, the thief bent down closer to let the detective touch his face.

Shinichi gasped when he felt nothing but clean skin under his fingertips. "You're...a teenager?"

Kaito leaned back, a sad smile on his face. "Yep, I'm Kaitou Kid the second. The first was killed by a certain group in black eight years ago." he said, loosening his tie. "Let's just get it straight, I know your identity Kudou, so I'm trusting you with mine."

Shinichi's breath hitched. "W-what? You're just going to tell me?"

"Yeah. We've got a common enemy Kudou. The same people that take potshots at me with sniper rifles are pretty much a different division of the same group. We're both on their hit lists, and we can get a hell of a lot done together, my talents with your talents."

The detective leveled a serious gaze at the taller teen. "Then you are proposing a...partnership?"

Kaito nodded. "Yeah. I might be a great thief and a magician, I can gather information like nobody's business, but putting it together and drawing conclusions is out of my league." he said, and with a snap of his fingers he was in different clothes. Now instead of white silk he was wearing a white button down shirt and dark slacks, typical school uniform basics. With another snap and a flick of his wrist several papers from various places on the desk fluttered to a neat stack in his hand. "Now, I have a draft of a contract here, but I have a lot of finessing to do with the spell on the geas though."

He handed the stack to Shinichi and sat at the desk, pulling a massive black and silver book out of nowhere and resting it on a angled book stand. He opened the book and started scouring it for something, a pen scribbling notes on it's own as he muttered.

Shinichi was thoroughly shaken by the display of impossibilities. He knew the thief was good, but to move things he wasn't touching without aligning movements of the hands was beyond belief.

"How are you doing that?" he dared to ask.

"Magic." was the brusque answer. "Some things are impossible to humans, but true magic isn't one of them." he said, not looking up. "Plume, leave the Tantei alone."

A slithering sound and the beat of wings alerted Shinichi to another presence. A flicker of white moved to the desk and the detective's first thought was that is was a dove.

He wasn't prepared to see a miniature white dragon landing on the desk.

"Before you ask, he's real, a dragon, his name is Plume, and he's my magical familiar. Don't piss him off if you don't want to be bitten, he's poisonous."

The little dragon hissed playfully, showing bare gums before flitting out of sight.

"Um, he has no teeth..."

"Retractable."

"Oh."

Rattled, he looked to the papers in his hand. The Kaitou had very structured handwriting and clearly advanced compositional skills. In a clear outline were the details of a corporation contract, a well thought out exchange of favors and teamwork. Kid would help the detective find the cure for his poisoning and help defend himself from threats, and assist in his cases when asked. In exchange, the Meitantei would defend the thief's life from police forces and help him hunt for something called 'Pandora'. Together they would work together gathering information, investigating, and hunting down their common enemy.

As if on cue Kaito looked up once Shinichi finished the last page. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, it seems fair, but you still haven't told me your name or what this 'Pandora' is."

Kaito blinked, then smacked his head and laughed. "Oh man, my bad. My name's Kuroba Kaito, magician."

Shinichi recognized the name. "Kuroba? As in Kuroba Touichi? The famous magician?"

"My dad."

"Pandora?"

Kaito frowned. "It's a jewel that's supposed to shed tears that bring the person who drinks that tear immorality." he said. "My sources have some information on it, but as far as I can tell no one even knows what it looks like. Personally I think it's a load of BS, but that's just me."

"Sources?"

Kaito patted the massive book on the desk. "This. This book is called an Incantus, a magician's personal spell book, usually handed down from master to apprentice. It used to be my great-great-great-great-grandmother's, but the dragons had to take it back when she was burned at the stake for witchcraft. Every Incantus is linked to the Magician's archive, the largest storage of documents anywhere, some dating back past ancient civilizations. If a magician somewhere in history touched it, there's a copy of it in the Archive."

Shinichi made to get up, but Kaito waved him back down and brought the book over. "You won't want to get up just yet, translocation sickness tends to stick around for a good twenty minutes."

The shrunken teen grimaced, but asked his question. "What about computer documents?"

There, the magician grinned evilly and flipped the book closed only to open in again. He showed Shinichi the page, and to the detective's shock it bore computer code script, still in the process of writing!

"Like I said, if a magical touches it, it's ours. Turns out magic sinks into technology real easily, so if you put just the right spell in a gadget or machine the materials soak it up and electricity supplies the energy. If I knew anything about computers I'd employ some of those spells, but I don't and have to get my information the old fashioned way." he said with a laugh. "At least someone got into the enemy biochemical research data for us, so we have...this!"

He flipped the page and the heading bore the title 'Apotoxin 4869'. The subtitle blared angry red, a warning 'Caution! Man-made Poison! Work of BO'.

Kaito smiled at the dumbfounded expression on the other's face. "This is part of the chapters on poisons that's permanent to every Incantus, self updating. I was doing some research on my antitoxin and ran across this, look familiar?"

Shinichi nodded. "Haibara would kill you to get this book."

Kaito laughed. "As if she'd ever get her hands on it." he snickered. "So, what do you think of the contract?"

The detective jumped and remembered the papers in his hands. "Oh, well...it seems fair, but why don't you simplify it?"

All traces of play left the magician's face. "Meaning?" he said, all business.

"I'm willing to trade you favors at any point Kuroba, you don't have to include that in the contract. Why don't we just write it as a contract of cooperation? We work together, and if someone double crosses the other, they have the right to cite the contract and punish the traitor accordingly."

Kaito went back to his desk and flipped through his book again. "Well, I don't see why not. That may add another level of complexity to the geas, but it should be doable. I put in the trade of favors to more clearly outline the boundaries of the contract and structure the geas, but it can work without them."

"What's a geas?"

"Magical contract, binds those involved to the pact. In this case it's one of cooperation and silence, it would remind us of our mutual goal and prevent us from accidentally leaking information to outside parties. Any divulgence of information in a silence geas has to be approved by the pact keepers, both of us."

Shinichi nodded. "Assuming that your magic is real, this pact prevents us from speaking of the contract without the other's permission?"

"Bingo."

It seemed too good to be true. "Prove it can happen."

Kaito's grin turned absolutely wicked. He traced a pattern in the air, faint lights following his fingertips, and pointed at Shinichi.

Shinichi raised a brow at the light show, but when he tried to ask a question, his throat refused to respond.

"See? Imposed silence. Muteness spells of that lower caliber last only a few minutes." said the magician, tapping the detective's head. "I've released it, you should be able to talk now."

Shinichi coughed as he felt his throat constrict slightly before releasing. "How did you do that?"

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Magic."

Convinced, but still skeptical, Shinichi spent the next several hours with the magic thief, hammering out the details of their agreement. When the document was finished it was signed and sealed with blood, then Kaito used it to preform a ridiculously complicated spell involving a large spell circle and his little dragon's help. The geas was set with a verbal recanting of their contract and a bite from Plume on their right wrists.

Shinichi winced as the bite throbbed, rubbing the spot before Kaito pulled his hand away and put some kind of salve on it.

"Don't mess with it." he said. "Dragon bites don't get infected easily, but when they do it's nasty. Keep it dry and clean until it heals and you'll be fine."

"But why did he bite us?"

Kaito shrugged. "It creates the 'warning' part of the geas, if one of us is in danger, or if you're too close to letting something slip, the bite burns. Most of the time people use tattoos, piercings, or jewelry, but that's not the best idea for our situations. A tiny scar like this is less visible, less likely to alert someone something's up."

It made sense really, in an odd way. The fewer cues they had to connect to each other and their alter egos, the better.

"So, how can I contact you?" Shinichi asked, rubbing his now bandaged wrist. "Do you have a cell phone or something?"

"Nah, I've got something a lot better. Cell phones can be traced pretty damn easily, but these babies can't."

The magician produced a pair of MP3 players, the fancy kind with a touch screen and built in camera, they were both black, and Kaito handed Shinichi the left one.

"Don't lose the earphones, they're the part that has the microphone." he said. "These really do play music and video, but they connect through wireless frequencies to each other and can listen in on phone lines, land and cell. There's a cable jack that connects to most computers, and a hacking spell is inside, so it can weasel into just about any firewall with your help. It stores more than triple the capacity of high end hard drives, but I think you have to purge it every once in a while."

Shinichi examined the player. It looked like an American model player, but not an ipod.

"You have something against Apple?"

Kaito laughed. "Yeah, their stuff is too kitschy. This is a Zune, less buggy and way more user friendly for people who actually know what they're doing. The tech-mage that designed this recommended it too, it holds the magic better. Just remember to keep it charged and not to overload the memory and you'll do fine."

The detective approved and pocketed the device. "Ok, so how am I getting back home?" he asked, dreading a second teleportation.

Kaito laughed and went to his wardrobe, shuffling through clothes until he came up with some dark blue slacks and blazer. He swapped them for his current clothes and ran a comb through his hair. The effect was a perfect duplicate of Shinichi's teenage form.

Shinichi blinked. "So that's how you impersonate me so well, we're almost identical!"

"We're cousins actually." said Kaito. "Our mothers are twins, and both our dads look a lot alike too. I don't know why our moms don't keep in touch, but it's to our gain I guess."

Shinichi almost fainted. "Cousins! All my relatives are on my Dad's side!"

Kaito smirked. "That you know of." he said, and picked the shrunken teen up. "Hold on tight, you're gonna get pretty dizzy."

The world spun in a whirl of color and the same sensation of movement without momentum crashed over him. When they landed his vision swam and he was forced to cling to Kaito's shoulders.

"How the hell do you do this all the time?" he asked, trying to fight the vertigo.

"I've done it a lot more and already have a resistance to it." Kaito explained, shifting the much smaller teen onto his back and supporting him with one arm. "You'll feel better faster than the first time, plus we traveled only part of the distance than before. Just let me know if you start to black out ok?"

Shinichi, or rather, Conan now, nodded and wrapped his arms around 'Shinichi's' neck in a childish fashion and rested his chin on the teen's shoulder.

Letting the disguised thief carry him home turned out to be the best option, given the image they portrayed as tired little boy and his big brother, no one bothered them. Most of the way they were quiet, allowing Conan to regain his equilibrium, but once he was feeling better he had questions to ask.

"Ne, why are you dressed as me anyway?" he asked, voice in child mode.

Kaito laughed quietly. "Your girlfriend needs to see you, to hear an explanation. We don't have to give her the whole truth, so we'll play the fact we can give her to cement your cover story." he said, his voice a perfect mimic of Shinichi's speech pattern. "No matter what you hear me say, play along. We're going to make it that you're Shinichi's contact, that you tell him how Ran's doing. We just spent the day out together as brothers, given that you're my little cousin."

Conan agreed, it sounded like a solid plan. "So if I need 'Shinichi' to appear, I can call you?"

"Bingo."

-xXx

To say Ran was shocked to see Shinichi was an understatement. She just about shrieked when the teen appeared, carrying Conan on his back. She couldn't decide wether to be angry or relieved and ushered the long missing detective inside and fussed over Conan.

"Shinichi, what are you doing here?" she asked after settling an exhausted boy on the sofa.

'Shinichi' gave her a soft smile. "Hey, be nice. I was out with my 'ototou' today, it's been a long time since I've seen him in person." he said, sitting down next to the boy and ruffling his hair.

Ran seemed to deflate, her anger leaving her at the tenderness she saw in her friend. "How well do you know Conan-kun?"

Shinichi smiled. "Other than the reports he gives me on how you're doing? Pretty well. I don't get many opportunities to see him face to face, but we talk a lot over the phone."

Ran gaped, and sat down heavily. "You...that's how you always know what's going on?" she asked, stunned. "Then why haven't you come back when it wasn't an emergency?"

The detective's eyes narrowed in a grimace, Conan's expression mirroring in sadness and the little boy hugged the teen. Shinichi patted the boy's head soothingly.

"Remember I'm always saying that I've got a case I can't leave?"

Ran nodded.

"It's true. I've been investigating organized crime circles, connected mystery murders, people who get erased for merely hearing the smallest and vaguest details. It isn't pretty Ran, if these people find out what I'm doing, that I'm alive and ready to get in their way, a lot of people would be in danger."

The girl's eyes grew wide, then teary. "Tropical Land..."

Shinichi turned his gaze, feeling Conan stiffen.

"Shinichi, you saw something..."

"Yes. They cracked me in the head and left me to die, a bullet in my stomach. I was found by another investigator, and I've sort of been in hiding ever since."

Ran's tears dripped down her face and she launched herself at Shinichi, crying. "Oh Shinichi! You were shot?"

The teen pushed her back slightly and pulled up his shirt, showing her a bullet scar on his abdomen, another at his hip, and two in his shoulder. "I've got three on my legs too, it's not pretty. The first time I showed up, for that locked room murder, I had a nasty infection on top of a cold, that's why I was in such bad shape." he told her. "It's been hell looking for these scumbags, but at least little genius Conan can handle the cases here."

Conan blushed and hid his face. "Shinichi-nii-san!"

Shinichi laughed and ruffled the boy's hair again. "Get used to it kiddo, you're a genius."

"Nii-san!"

Ran giggled. "So Conan-kun's a genius? That explains a lot."

"Yeah. Can you keep looking after him? I can't stay long."

"Yes, I love having him around. Can I contact you?"

The detective shook his head. "No. Only Conan has the secure method. If you have something to tell or send to me, give it to him and let him go."

"So that's why he disappears when you call, he's calling you."

Shinichi laughed. "That's what happens, I've got you on one line and him on the other, especially for cases. Don't try contacting me or following Conan when he does, it's for everyone's safety."

Ran agreed, happy to finally have answers, and hugged her long time friend before he left.

"Remember, no telling." he said to Conan.

The boy playfully mimed zipping his mouth closed.

"Later Nii-san!"

Once he was gone and out of sight Ran gave a huge sigh and swept Conan into a bear hug, crying in relief.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Start of a Partnership

Thinking back on it, Conan mused that his new alliance with the Phantom Thief was the best deal he ever made. Now he had a double to play Shinichi, a cover story for Ran, the thief researching his cure, new gadgets, and the best info hound he'd ever come across. A mere four days after signing the contract, he came across a murder so convoluted that it made even _his _head spin. With Ran in the know that Conan was a detective prodigy it was helpful, but he was baffled by the method.

The victim was an accountant, found strung upside down in a shipping warehouse, having apparently died from a massive wound to the back ripping out half the abdominal organs and the lower ribs. Conan had no earthly idea what could possibly cause such a huge, gaping injury, and quickly, that wasn't a construction site accident.

Time to call in some backup.

Given the time of night it was Kaito showed up incredibly fast. It was the magician's skill in rigging that Conan was relying on, so he asked his partner to show up as himself.

Megure and Mouri were not happy to hear Conan had called in someone, and even less so to see the so called expert was a teenager.

Kaito stepped from the taxi with a serious air, his little white cat on his shoulder, followed by Hakuba, who was less than impressed. The magician walked up to Conan and greeted him.

"Hey Tantei-kun! Where's the stiff?" he said, words playful, but his tone serious.

Conan looked faintly green, even for his experience. "It's not pretty Kaito-nii-san, his guts are everywhere."

Hakuba's eyes widened considerably. "Wait a moment Megure-keibu, you allow a _child _access to crime scenes?"

Said 'child' glared at the British detective. "I'm a lot smarter than you think Tantei-nii-san."

Inspector Megure nodded in agreement. "As much as we don't like him being exposed to all this, Conan-kun has been instrumental in closing dozens of murder cases. He also has Kudou Shinichi's endorsement, the boy is a detective prodigy." he said gruffly, not pleased. "What I would like to know however, is why Conan-kun called this person here, and why you have followed."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Hakuba was with me and my friends earlier when I got Tantei-kun's call, he's a detective too. The brat here calls me an expert in rigging, since I'm called a prodigy magician. Kuroba Kaito at your service."

"A magician? What good would that do us?" groused Mouri. "It's not like he can pull the murderer out of a top hat."

Kaito glared at the freelance detective. "Hey, Tantei-kun called me here to help figure out the method, after that, it's none of my business." Turning, he tapped Conan on the shoulder. "Show me the body."

The boy nodded and trotted off, everyone following.

The scene wasn't pretty. Blood was everywhere and the corpse was just shy of falling into two pieces, half the torso blown out. Kaito stumbled back in disgust, pulling out a handkerchief and clamping it over his lower face. Hakuba's reaction was stronger, retching before getting his composure back together.

Kaito tread cautiously to the body, examining the eviscerated corpse and the wires, chains, ropes, and metal beams of the area with extreme scrutiny.

"Well," he started, wiping his face and pointing at the corpse's feet and the wire used to suspend it. "It looks like a pretty wicked tripwire snare setup. Victim walks across the area, pressure plate on that electronic floor scale underneath trips air pressure piston that tightens the snare, which in turn triggers the engine to raise the body."

All the assembled officers and CSI did a double take, noticing for the first time the floor scale, used to weigh large containers and the surrounding equipment to analyze the contents.

Kaito continued, sketching the rig on a pad of paper. "From what I can see, there's more than enough sensors in here to also trigger the snare. You might want to check the equipment for taps and extra connections that shouldn't be there."

True enough no fewer than three devices were found, to alert to three criteria. The scale was set to trip at a certain weight and above, the infrared camera to a human heat signature, and motion sensor to trip at a moving object larger than a cat or dog.

Megure was impressed. "Well, you certainly know what you're doing if you got that so fast."

"Magician training. You have to notice the smallest details and know how wire rigging works. Getting the guy up in air is only half of it, so I still need to find that hook..."

All eyes turned to him.

"Hook?"

Kaito gulped, looking pale. "Three-prong, retractable, launch grappler hook. You fire it with it's prongs closed like a missile, and once it makes contact with something or reaches the end of it's tether it opens, catching protrusions to allow you to use the rope tied to it. Stuff like that is SWAT team grade, high powered and gritty. The launcher has to have enough force to get the hook where it needs to be, then the power to lift several hundred pounds quickly." he explained, finishing his diagram. "My guess is that once the snare had the victim in place, it trips the next stage and triggers the launcher. The hook goes through the body, opens on the other side, and pulls back, taking the guy's innards with it. Really, really painful way to die."

The mental imagery was not pleasant for anyone, and most of the assembled people shuddered. Megure sent several officers in the direction where the hook was most likely fired from with a barked order.

"Kuroba-kun, how did you reach this conclusion?"

"I'm a magician, like my dad was." he said slowly. "He was a rigging expert, high wire acrobatics and trap gags. A launch grappler hook was the only thing I could think of that could make that triangle-shaped hole..."

Kaito paled and held his kerchief over his mouth again, clearly done talking.

"Keibu! We found the hook!" called an officer. "The kid's right!"

The magician look relieved. "That's good, can I go now?"

"You may, I'm sure this has been difficult for you."

"You have no idea." he sighed, leaving. As he walked away, he ruffled Conan's hair and whispered. "Knock 'em out partner."

Conan nodded and set to work.

-xXx

The case was solved that night. Conan had already figured out the culprit, but he needed Kaito's explanation of the rig to prove it. The murder was arranged by a crime ring, and the accountant was linked to them. The victim had tried to flee to the police, to figuratively 'spill his guts', but his former employers caught him and did it literally.

The ring leader was a middle management executive, and half the financial company went down in the investigation for money laundering and drug dealing.

Kaito was paid an amount for his services in solving the case, but quietly like he requested. After that he firmly told Conan _not _to call him to such a gruesome scene again unless it was absolutely necessary, he'd lost his appetite for days from that case.

After that there were a few more tame cases that required a little computer legwork, so Kaito obliged and built Conan a more sophisticated hacking device, then helped place the evidence for the police to find and convict the killer.

On the other side of the equation were Kaito's heists. One was a pink diamond rumored to turn blood red at certain phases of the moon. Conan, innocent little Conan, was able to case the building with his 'Kaito-nii-san', and later pass on information on security details. The following heist was far more fun than either expected, Kid leading Hakuba and the police on a long, merry chase, Conan laughing his head off as he watched. No one suspected the cute little boy to be Kid's accomplice, making the Inspector's scrambling to find the informant even funnier.

So far, the new partners honored their agreement, trading favors while researching their respective ends, waiting to find a lead on their enemies.

Kaito sat in his armchair, scouring his Incantus for the nth time that week, Shinichi was perched in his office chair at the computer, using the secure line and IP address to write a long email to Ran.

The detective had quickly grown accustomed to the sheer comfort of the thief's lair, it's security, and the fact that Kaito's mother was an incredible cook. Meimi hardly batted an eyelash at what had happened to her nephew, merely accepting it as one of the many strange things that happened with a magician around. The word 'impossible' had a very different definition in the Kuroba household.

Shinichi looked up from what he was doing at the frustrated sigh from his cousin. "Is something wrong?"

Kaito groaned. "Like you wouldn't believe." he said, grumbling. "I can't find that article on forced regression I ran across last month, someone must have removed it for editing."

"Meaning?"

The magician shrugged. "The archive works like a real life library, books do get taken out for updates, editing, or replacement. If they're not in the shelves you can't view them through your Incantus."

Shinichi shrugged and went back to typing. "I guess you'll have to wait. Maybe you can make a request for similar information?"

Kaito perked up. "Direct inquiry? I haven't tried that yet! Good idea!" he said, flicking a wrist to bring a pen to his hand. Flipping to a page that looked an awful lot like a standard requisition form he began filling it out.

"Ok...inquiry for articles on forced regression, links to poison, Apotoxin 4869, and possible treatments. Send to Kuroba, Incantus pages."

Finished, he closed the book and set it aside. "Now we gotta wait a bit, they've got to process the request."

Twenty minutes later, what he got wasn't the articles he wanted, but a slip of paper.

Confused, he picked it up. "Request permission for entry? Plume, what's this?"

The little dragon poked his head out from the kitty condo recently installed in the lair. _"Magician want come to Master's house, talk in person, Momma say it courtesy, ask permission."_

Kaito shrugged and scribbled 'approved', set the slip on the floor, and stepped back. In a flash and a thud of displaced air, a tall man stood on top the slip.

He was thin and wirey, dressed in slacks and a lab coat. He adjusted his rectangular glasses on his nose and flicked some of his curly hair from his eyes.

"Dante Mordio, healer-class magician, nice to meet you Kuroba Kaito." he said, bowing slightly.

Kaito returned the gesture. "Likewise, this is my cousin, Shinichi." he said, waving to the shrunken teen. "Why are you here? What about my documents?"

Dante frowned. "Inquiries on certain topics are redirected to professionals, experts in the field. Anything having to deal with forced regression and man made poisons go to me. I'm a doctor in the real world, and handle 'Zebra Cases' as a diagnostician."

Shinichi looked interested. "You mean like that American drama 'House'?"

"Correct." Dante said, smiling. "Somewhat like that, only I'm based in Europe. I assume you are the one force regressed?"

The detective blushed, embarrassed. "You can tell?"

"Son, it's all over your energy signature. You're messed up, badly, and it's screwing up your powers."

Kaito started. "Hold it, powers?"

Dante nodded. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed, but then again you probably haven't had much contact with other magic users. From what I can see he's a Druid, a kind of Medium-class magician, he probably has a death-class spirit familiar, instead of a physical one like yours."

"So he sees dead people?" Kaito deadpanned. "Are you kidding me? He gets that enough already as a detective!"

"A detective that had dead bodies fall around him everywhere he goes? I always thought I was cursed or something." Shinichi quipped. "So it's a power that attracts death?"

"A talent that _cooperates _with death." Dante explained. "You can ask your cousin to research it, but I really should take a look at you. Are you willing to come to my office for a more thorough examination?"

"A chance to get back to normal? Hell yes!"

Kaito stood up. "He's not going without me."

"Fair enough, bring your Incantus."

Little Plume had just enough time to get onto Kaito's shoulders before the group vanished.

-xXx

Thankfully Shinichi had been whisked around by Kaito's translocation spells enough by now to not be so badly affected. Sure, he was dizzy as heck, but it passed relatively quickly. Once he'd recovered Dante, or rather, Doctor Mordio, ran him through a series of tests.

The results were shocking. The Apotoxin had reacted so strongly with Shinichi's natural magic, and his resistance to death, that it did it's actual, original purpose and regressed all but his neural cells. Once the toxin had regressed him, it hijacked his immune system and began producing more of the toxin, maintaining the shrunken state and combining with his magic to create a poison-based curse.

The self replicating poison burned away most common diseases and lessened the more severe ones, in effect replacing his damaged immune system.

"Well, so my blood is poisonous, I'm cursed to be short, and it's not going to go away?" Shinichi asked, disheartened.

Dr. Mordio shook his head. "It will be impossible to fully reverse this state, but I can alleviate many of your systems, possibly twist the curse to your advantage. If you can contact your spirit familiar, the process will go much faster."

Kaito, who had been reading up on Druids while they ran the tests, piped up. "It says a Druid can contact his or her familiar through meditation and mental discipline. If you concentrate and clear your mind, you should be able to hear it."

Shinichi frowned. "How do I do that?"

Dr. Mordio scribbled something in his notes. "I suggest a dose of Alhelios Tincture and a few days away from school. A proper meditation trance is very difficult to attain for beginners, so you will have to knock yourself out for at least forty-eight hours."

Shinichi groaned. "Getting past Ran is going to be a nightmare."

Kaito laughed. "Relax, we'll just have 'Shinichi-nii-san' take you away for a case, even the great Meitantei of the East needs a little backup now and then."

-xXx

As Kaito predicted, it was easy to get Conan away under the pretense that he was helping Shinichi with a case. Kaito spirited him away to his house and got him prepared.

"Now cos, you're going to be immobile for at least two full days. The Tincture slows the body's functions down, but there is still a risk going under like this. I'll be keeping a close eye on you."

"Thanks" Shinichi said, handing his cousin his glasses. "See you on the other side."

Kaito gave him the undiluted serum, in a larger dose than before, and the world fell away until there was nothing but absolute silence.

-xXx

Black. No light, no gravity, no horizon. Shinichi drifted, his mind at a pleasant rest, no pressing thoughts or awareness of possible threats.

'Where am I?' he thought slowly, eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness.

A whisper, soft and ageless, came to his hearing.

"_My charge, my little one...I am here."_

He opened his eyes to see a shadowy figure with impossibly long black hair and moon white skin. It's left eye was pure black, with a faint white ring where the iris was supposed to be, while it's right eye was the opposite, and it's lips were black as well. It was dressed in flowing black and white robes, vaguely ancient Japanese in design, and was neither male or female in appearance.

'Who are you?'

"_I am nameless, Nanashi you may call me, death-caller. Many, many souls are indebted to you, grateful for you avenging their wrongful deaths, and they lend you great strength."_ the spirit said, voice that gentle whisper. _"It is that power I call upon, and together we may break your curse, my charge."_

'You are willing to aide me?'

Nanashi bowed it's head. _"Yes."_

'Thank you.'

Noise returned to the world.

-xXx

Shinichi slowly returned to awareness. Opening his eyes he saw first Kaito, and then...Nanashi.

Kaito let out a long, low whistle. "Damn, figures you'd have a Shinigami for a partner." he quipped. "That's not common."

Shinichi shivered, feeling chilled. "If you say so." he said, rubbing his arms. "Is it just me or is it getting cold in here?"

Kaito felt his forehead. "No, but you've got a fever. You were out for only thirty five hours, so the Tincture must be fighting the toxin."

"_Master, you must act before the poison causes you to change."_

Shinichi had just enough time to tear off the child-sized pajamas before the growth pains hit him. Kaito was forced to watch the excruciatingly painful transformation, to watch his cousin writhe in agony.

Neither of them noticed Nanashi move. As the change began the spirit wrapped his intangible form around his master, vanishing into his limbs.

Shinichi sat up, full sized again, panting and sweaty, but oddly free from pain.

"_That is my doing Master."_

Both teens looked around, and spotted a little black dragon, the same kind as Plume, staring up at them with Nanashi's eyes.

"N-Nanashi?"

"_Yes. I have sacrificed my humanoid spirit form, in order to restore my Master's body."_ said Nanashi tonelessly. _"Death flees from Death, the transformation that would kill my Master is now in my control alone. I was once a spirit dragon like this, and I choose to return to this shape."_

"Whoa, hold the phone!" Kaito shouted. "You mean to say that you...substituted your normal shape for a Body Swap? Body Swaps are dangerous!"

"_It is not that spell I have duplicated."_ Nanashi stated, curling up on Shinichi's lap. _"One's spiritual form dictates the physical, but Master's astral shape is dangerously fractured. I have separated these two shapes by restoring the gaps with my own astral form. Now the Elder and the Younger are distinct pieces."_

Shinichi looked lost, but Kaito brightened in understanding. "Oh, I get it. By splitting the astral form, you can take one half, overlay it on Shinichi's body, and it'll change! That's a hell of a lot more efficient than any of our other curse breaker options."

"_Correct."_ Nanashi yawned widely, and settled down to sleep.

"I don't quite get it, but what just happened is a good thing, right?" asked Shinichi, nervously laying a hand on Nanashi's scaly back.

Kaito shrugged. "Depends on your point of view, but if anything, it'll be useful at least."

-xXx

It was several days more before Shinichi got the hang of having his new familiar, his powers, and the fact that he could swap forms more or less painlessly. Kaito was an immense help in his training, especially when managing his own Incantus once Nanashi delivered it to him.

Shinichi's magic book was more compact than Kaito's, leather bound black with white details, a white owl in flight on the cover. Shinichi was confused at the imagery, but Kaito told him that owls were a fairly common herald of death in many parts of Europe, and a symbol of great intelligence and wisdom in ancient Greece. A Druid's Incantus was far more specialized than a dragon based one like Kaito's, but they could access the same information.

After a week the detective had enough control and know-how to return to the Mouri's residence as Conan, Nanashi hidden as a black and white bracelet on his wrist.

XxX

AN: Well, someone asked just how Conan fits into this, and here it is.

Druids are specialist magicians, their powers are more geared towards connecting to the dead and the natural spirits of the world. Shinichi won't be able to pull off even half the tricks Kaito can, but he doesn't need to be able to, he's a detective, not a showman.

Until next update, to be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

New Developments

Kaito whistled happily as he made his way to school, flipping a deck of cards around in his hands. Life was going well for the magician-thief, new, interesting things to learn, a whole new arsenal of tricks, a confidant to confide in, a fellow magic user for a partner, and Aoko was starting to lighten up about his pranks.

Well, the part about Aoko was more about his not flipping her skirt every day anymore and giving her more complements than insults, but an improvement was an improvement regardless. With riddles instead of anger at Kaito to keep her mind occupied, it had taken the girl several weeks to get used to the new routine, but once she did she was quite happy with the 'new' Kaito, and Kaito enjoyed making her blush.

Hakuba, ever suspicious, made the slight connection to Kaito's new behavior and Kid's new tricks, and stepped up his efforts to prove Kaito was the thief. It never worked, given he had no evidence and the general populace's opinion was that the prankster was finally growing up a bit.

The only thing putting a damper on his mood was that the fall festival was approaching, and every senior class was required to put on an performance or event of some kind. Since the school's Kaitou Kid fan club's president was president of his class, the girl's first idea was to do a magic show, Kaito dressed as Kid.

-xXx

Kaito just about fell out of his seat. "WHAT? Are you insane?"

The girl, Kaede, only looked at him smugly. "I'm afraid the decision is for the most part unanimous. You are the most talented magician our age, and the girls all agree that you would look very good in Kid-sama's costume. We will get a lot of support, and funds, with such a good Kid impersonator to do photoshoots with patrons."

Kaito growled in an unusually outward sign of irritation. "Just because I wasn't in school yesterday doesn't mean you can make decisions like that without my consent!" he snapped. "I wouldn't mind doing a magic show, but only as myself! I'm not interested in getting mauled by rabid fangirls!"

The entire class gaped in shock, Aoko and Hakuba especially.

"Kaito, I thought you liked Kid." Aoko said slowly. "Normally you'd jump at a chance like this..."

Kaito turned a flat gaze to her. "We're talking about rabid Kid fanatics, in close proximity to me, possibly mistaking me for the real thing. Like I said, I'm not interested in being molested or kidnaped."

Kaede only smirked. "I'm sorry Kuroba-kun, you have no choice, and as class president my decision is final. You will get on that stage, and in that photo studio, like you're told!"

"You're giving me a very good reason to run off to America for a month."

"Suck it up Kuroba-kun, for the good of the school."

Kaito glared at her. "And to think people call _me _a pervert. At least I don't set someone up to get stripped on camera." he grumbled, sending half the class into helpless giggles.

-xXx

That evening he sat in his lair, fuming as he scoured his Incantus, a sleepy Plume draped across his shoulders and Shinichi at his computer again.

"You really should calm down Kaito." said the detective placidly. "You'll give yourself a headache."

Kaito growled. "Too late, already have one." he said, flipping pages angrily. "This is going to be a disaster! You know that when I'm wearing the costume I automatically act as Kid, how am I supposed to do this? I can't retrain myself that quickly or master a new spell of the caliber I need, I've only got two weeks!"

Shinichi chuckled. "Maybe you don't have too. Alter the costume, center your mindset and make yourself believe that you are only an impersonator." he said, flipping out his own Incantus. "I've been doing some research on persona spells, and what you do with your disguises is almost to the letter of the text."

Kaito flipped out of his armchair and perched on the back of the office chair, peering at his cousin's book. "Well I'll be damned, you're right."

"There's another thing, I'll be there to help you out, me and Conan."

Kaito fell off his perch.

"_WHAT?_"

Shinichi laughed. "It's pretty simple. Nanashi helps me create a Astral body double, my Conan half directing it. I've used that trick a few times already, made me dizzy as hell the first time, seeing and hearing everything from two perspectives, but once I got used to it, it wasn't a problem."

Kaito got up and grabbed his cousin roughly by the shoulders. "Shin! Do you have any idea how dangerous that kind of stunt is? The human brain can't handle all that input all at once!"

"Um Kaito? Shinigami familiar, remember? After I got used to the flow it's started backing off, so the double's becoming more independent from me, it doesn't need me to command it every second."

The senior magician groaned and slapped the Druid upside the head. "Idiot! If your astral split gets completely independent from you it'll separate completely! You'll wind up with part of your mind and soul cut away from you, and you'll never get it back!"

Shinichi flinched at the pain from the hit but didn't back down. "I know, and that's what I've been trying to do." he said, rubbing the tender spot. "Conan's been a different personality for a long time, a completely separate mind with his own thought patterns and memories. If he becomes fully independent from me and gains his own body, the portion of my soul he'll come away with will eventually develop into a full one. We need this to happen Kaito, Conan can't stay trapped in my head for much longer, the pressure might kill one or both of us."

The implications sank into Kaito's mind with a painful shock. "Wait, you're saying that you have two fully developed and independently functioning minds in your one brain?"

"Yeah."

Only one phrase fit the situation.

"Well shit."

Shinichi shrugged. "There's worse things. We're catching it pretty early, so there's a high chance of both of us getting out relatively unscathed. The sooner we split and Conan gets his own body, the better."

Kaito sighed, rubbing at his temples to ward off his spiking headache. "But where are we getting the body from?"

The Druid smirked. "Done already. Mordio-sensei's helping me develop a homunculus body from my parent's genes. He'll look a hell of a lot like me, but he'll grow up looking a little more like Dad than I do. It'll be ready in about three more weeks, and by then Conan should be fully separated from me."

"You like to think of everything, don't you."

"Wouldn't survive in my situation if I didn't, and you do it too mister Kaitou Kid."

"...I hate you sometimes."

"Love you too cousin."

-xXx

The next school week began in a flurry of activity, every single class beginning their preparations for the festival. Kaito's class had the outdoor stage area booked, and a generous side area as well. Somebody, probably a fangirl, had drug up multiple gowns, flashy outfits, and other costumes for girls wanting the photo with 'Kid', while the boys started building the rigging to Kaito's specifications. A professional photographer was drafted, and all the equipment for digital photo printing was hauled in to the set.

The whole affair was being advertized all over the school, and students sending word out to Kid fans all across Tokyo, until news reached a certain Suzuki-group heiress.

Predictably, Sonoko squealed, rendering Conan deaf for a solid two minutes.

"Sonoko-nee-chan! That hurt!" he whined, holding his aching head while Ran fussed over him.

"But it's Kid-sama! I have to see him!"

Conan smacked the side of his head, trying to get his ears to stop ringing. "Shinichi-nii-chan said Kaito-nii-chan's the one doing the show, it's not the real Kid."

Ran froze. "Wait, Shinichi-nii-_chan_? _Kaito_-nii-chan?"

The boy flushed. "Um, Kaito-nii-chan is Shinichi-nii-chan's cousin, mine too." he said sheepishly, adjusting his glasses.

"That's it, we're going to Edoka's festival, I need to see this 'cousin' in person."

Sonoko squealed again, leaving Conan's ears ringing for a second time.

-xXx

In another week the festival began, and a record number of visitors swarmed the school grounds. Ran lost little Conan in the crowds, but found him after many inquiries in the dressing rooms for the outdoor stage, chatting happily with...Shinichi?

'Shinichi' was sitting at the makeup station, adjusting a red tie over a blue dress shirt. A white dress jacket was slung over the back of his chair, and a pair of shiny patent white shoes peeked out from underneath white slacks.

Conan looked up at Ran's gasp and waved. "Ran-nee-chan!"

The teen at the mirror turned, and smiled. "Ah, so this is Ran-san?" he asked, a teasing sort of note in his voice that Ran knew Shinichi normally did not use. "You're right, she does look a lot like Aoko."

"Told you." came another, nearly identical voice.

"Shinichi!"

The teen detective smiled and accepted Ran's tackle-hug. "Hey Ran, nice to know you made it."

"But Shinichi, who is that?" Ran asked, pointing to the look-alike.

"Kuroba Kaito at your service!" he said with a grand voice and a sweeping bow. "Magician extraordinare, and currently Kaitou Kid impersonator."

Ran stared at the two of them. "You...you're almost identical."

The cousins smirked simultaneously. "Identical twin mothers, look-alike fathers, kind of a givin."

"...Sonoko is going to freak out when she sees this."

"Before or after she sees Kaito in his costume?"

"Point taken."

And true to form, Sonoko shrieked in excitement at seeing Kaito as Kid, standing on top of a very thin pole, then walking across a stretched wire barely thick enough to be visible in daylight.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he announced in his faux Kid voice, just close enough to the real thing to send the crowds into cheers, different enough to placate a certain Inspector present that it wasn't the real thief. "For your entertainment and excitement, Kaitou KID!"

Kaito then fell into a routine specially choreographed for the event. Highwire stunts and simultaneous magic tricks, vanishing from a perch thirty feet off the ground to reappear on stage, then several 'normal' magic tricks, followed by Kaito's special, personal ones. He had the crowd screaming in excitement for an hour and a half, until he called Hakuba from the audience.

"Now, Tantei-san." he began, making Hakuba twitch. "Could you please prove to the audience, as one of my greatest critics, that currently there are no supports or wires attached to me."

The blonde detective blinked, but did as asked and searched for wires, sweeping a hand around Kaito and along the floor nearby until he was satisfied, and gave his nod to the audience.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Phantom in Phantom Thief!"

To the shock of everyone, Kaito duplicated the Kid's unprovable trick, levitation, rising two feet off the ground.

The crowd roared, and the noise rose to new heights as Hakuba swept his hand around Kaito again in disbelief.

Kaito settled to the floor again and vanished in a twirl of his cape.

The show was all anyone talked about for the rest of the day. The next several hours for Kaito were filled with photoshoots and clingy girls trying to steal kisses or his clothes, convinced he might be the real thing. Only Shinichi, Hakuba, Nakamouri, and several officer's presence prevented anything too drastic from happening to the trapped magician. Girl after girl demanded sexy shots of herself and the thief, poses bordering on risque and more than several demanded a photo of a kiss.

Well, Kaito wasn't having any of that, so the closest they got was a kiss on the hand. For girls younger than fifteen he was far more accommodating, treating them like princesses, especially grade school age and below. One little five year old was so enamored with him that it took her parents ten minutes to get her to release him.

Conan and the Shonen Tantei, (or ducklings as Kaito and Shinichi personally called them), got two sets of pictures done, one with them in a semi formal group shot, the other a more humorous one with Kaito tied up and the children standing triumphantly around him with big happy grins on their faces.

In all, it was a stressful, but entertaining day. As the daylight waned, bonfires were set up for the evening performance and later dances. Kaito repeated his routine, but a longer version of it with more Kid-esce stunts. The crowd just about lost it with cheers.

After the show the dances began, but when Kaito looked for Aoko, since she wrangled a promise out of him to dance with her, she was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly the area cleared, and Kaito stood alone under a pale light.

"Okay, what gives?" he asked, scratching his head under his top hat.

A faint shriek startled him, and suddenly his arms were full of satin and the scent of roses.

It was Aoko, dressed in blue gown, her hair in gentle curls, and her face painted delicately with a master's touch. Kaito had to clamp his jaw shut to keep from gaping at the feel of her curvy hips beneath the slinky fabric, and that her bust was half exposed, along with her shoulders, in the low cut bodice. Aoko panted shallowly, unaware of how her breathing pushed her cleavage more into prominence from the neckline of her corseted gown and how it highlighted how lusciously pink and full her lips were. In one short moment Kaito's image of his long time childhood friend went from 'old pal' to 'holy shit that's hot!'.

"Mou! Where did those harpies go?" she complained, looking around indignantly. "When I get my hands on them..."

She froze, and, realizing just who was holding her, gasped.

"Kaito?"

The magician struggled to control his breathing, and his hands for that matter. "...Aoko."

Aoko blushed at the husky tone in Kaito's voice and tried to turn her head, but he caught her chin and forced her to look him in the eye.

"Kaito! Let me go, I look ridiculous!" she pleaded, sounding desperate. "Ran-san and Sonoko-san stuffed me into this thing, it's stupid!"

Kaito chuckled. "Were you going to dance in your uniform?"

She flushed. "So? It's not like it was a problem." she said, eyes downcast. "It's not like I'm pretty enough to dress up, all the girls tell me that all the time, how I'm an ugly tomboy and-"

Kaito, tired of her nervous babbling, shut her up the best way he could think of.

An arm around her waist and a hand threaded through her hair, he kissed her. Pressed flush together he felt her stiffen in surprise, but to his she softened, returning the kiss.

Kaito vaguely noted the sound of a camera shutter, but he dismissed it, until he heard music playing.

He pulled away slightly to look around, and noted that dozens of people had flooded the area in costumes, the scheduled mask ball beginning.

Smirking, he twirled Aoko around and then kissed her hand with a gallant bow.

"May I have this dance Milady?"

He couldn't have been happier than when she said yes.

-xXx

Kaito spent the rest of the night dancing with Aoko, deaf to his cousin's comments and a certain witch's complaints, even more so when he asked her to officially become his girlfriend.

The girl had justifiably been skeptical, but seeing his rare moment of absolute sincerity she smiled and agreed, giving him a peck on the lips.

The magical thief went home in a happy daze, exhausted, but on top of the world.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Conditions

The two weeks following the festival were fairly quiet, not counting Aoko's rather loud chasing of a certain fanclub president with her trusty mop, seeing as the girl had been selling photos taken of Kaito as he had been undressing after the ball. The magician in question didn't show up at school for three days out of sheer mortification, and due to his systematic hunting down and destruction of the aforementioned photos.

Shinichi and Conan had just about laughed themselves sick when Kaito told them about the incident, and even more so that they had confiscated the data card the pictures were printed from, and refused to relinquish them to the poor magician.

-xXx

Meeting with Shinichi's parents had been an interesting affair. Looking back on it, it had been amusing seeing their initial reactions, to seeing that their formally shrunken son was now back to normal, but the mini-version of the teen was now a completely individual child, their child.

"How on earth did this happen?" cried Yukiko, stunned as she examined Conan from head to foot. "This shouldn't be possible Shin-kun!"

Shinichi and Kaito chuckled from their position on the couch. "You remember what I said about us having real magic the last time you guys were here?" asked Shinichi. "Well, the definition of 'impossible' sort of gets rewritten when you involve Magicians and Druids."

Yusaku, rather the opposite of his spazzing wife at the moment, seemed quite intrigued. "I would like to know how you managed this feat boys, and why it was necessary."

Kaito whipped out his Incantus and opened it up to his notes on the subject. "Well, from what I (and five experts) have concluded, is that Shinichi's Druid status, combined with the effects of the poison, his resistance to death, and the astral and mental fission, it was only a matter of time before the 'Conan persona' developed into a fully functional and self sufficient mind." he recited. "With all the power going to the astral split and filling in the gaps of said split, it sped up the process and made it more feasible for this separation of soul fragments. With different souls driving the separate minds, there was a real danger of one of the minds crushing the other or both out of existence. We had to pull Conan out of Shinichi's head before they self destructed, putting together a soul-blank body was the easiest, but most time consuming, part of the process."

Yukiko blinked at the smiling boy in her arms. "Well, if you boys say so...but how are we going to explain this?"

Shinichi shrugged. "We've got a magician lawyer helping us pull together the paperwork and writing Conan into existence. Genetically he is my brother, from a natural splicing of your genes to make him look like a mini-me, so his backstory's gotta match up."

"And what is that story?"

"One, that he's your second son, born out of Japan and living for three years with some of our relatives in America when your adventures got a little too adventurous for a toddler to be dodging fans and editors. Two, coming back to Japan he was so nervous about it being known that he was a second genius son of the Kudou family he gave a false family name and was taken in by the Mouri's. Three, I personally had only seen my baby brother in person a handful of times, and when he arrived I was in hiding from the people that tried to kill me that night at Tropical Land."

"Sounds solid enough." said Yusaku, picking Conan up and hugging him. "I guess it's time we stopped running around the world and started being a family again."

Conan laughed happily and hugged his father back fiercely.

-xXx

Ran was understandably startled when Shinichi showed up again in broad daylight, Kaito and Conan's 'mother' in tow. However, startled turned to shock when 'Edogawa-san' stripped off her heavyset disguise to reveal the ever poised Kudou Yukiko.

"Yukiko-oba-san?" she squeaked.

"In the flesh!" Yukiko said cheerfully. "Sorry about all the disguises and whatnot, we've got a long story to tell you."

Ran glared at Shinichi. "Oh you'd better, or Shinichi is in for the beating of his life!"

Shinichi was not amused. "Ran, I've been shot, poisoned, beaten, cut up, and nearly drowned, I don't think you can make me suffer any further than that."

While Ran sat in stunned silence, Yukiko began the story. "Well Ran-chan, Conan-kun is my second son. We left him with relatives after he got hurt dodging a fan stampede when he was three, and my cousin kept him very well hidden when he figured out little Conan is just like his older brother, a perfect little genius."

Kaito smirked and flourished an official paper detailing standardized IQ test scores. Of all the papers they had, this was one of the genuine ones, as they really did have Conan tested.

Ran took the paper and gasped at the score. "Two hundred and one?"

"Shin's two-thirty." said Kaito smugly, pulling out two more pages. "Mine's two-twenty nine."

"Conan's only going to get smarter as he grows up." Shinichi said, swatting his cousin upside the head. "Stop flashing those scores around! It's embarrassing!"

"For you maybe! I can't wait to show these to Hakuba, he'll flip!"

"Stop it!"

"Boys, knock it off."

At Yukiko's command both teens shrank back, hearing the sternness under the cheerful layers.

"So you see Ran, when Conan arrived to find our house empty and his big brother gone, he panicked. A lot of different people wanted to take him because of his intelligence, so he gave you a false family name. Agasa-hakase covered for us since Shinichi disappeared."

Ran was shocked. "You mean...when Shinichi was almost killed?"

Kaito and Shinichi exchanged glances, and the detective rolled up his shirt to reveal the fading bullet scar on his stomach. They had prepared all of Shinichi's scars beforehand, and all of them were in stages of healing and some were almost gone.

"Remember what I said about being poisoned?" he asked. "Well, turns out that poison was a failed immortality experiment that was supposed to regress cells. Most people that get poisoned with the stuff die really, really painful deaths, but I wound up with a huge hit to my immune system instead."

"It's a rare secondary effect, Shin's lucky that he survived. Conan was so spooked that something happened to his brother he was scared to tell you, or anyone else, the truth."

Ran turned a glare to Kaito. "And just how did you find out Kaito-kun?"

The magician only smiled. "I'm nosy as hell." he said simply. "Ran across him on one of his cases tracking crime rings, and I've been part of his informant slash support chain ever since."

Shinichi elbowed his cousin playfully. "He can gather information like you wouldn't believe, all that magician's training works great when you're investigating organized crime."

"It's a gift." Kaito said smugly.

-xXx

After a very long discussion Conan went home with the Kudous, Ran was sorry to see the boy leave, but happy to know for certain the boy's identity and that he was with real family. Shinichi breathed a sigh of relief once they were out of earshot.

At the Kudou house Kaito expressed his concerns to Shinichi about revealing that the detective was still alive, the meitantei just smiled and said that he was ready for them.

Shinichi's statement was quite true. In his studies of the Druid arts, he had found out that the numerous dead souls that he had avenged had the power to ward the living. In their gratitude to the detective the dead protected the people Shinichi asked them to, to remarkable effect. Being able to see and connect with the dead was an incredible boost to his investigations, and soon he would be at the level of control needed to perform a seance, to summon particular souls that he had never met.

Animal and nature spirits also took to the new Druid, wind and bird spirits in particular. These ghostly sprites could go anywhere that wasn't airtight, mostly to warn Shinichi of danger or to collect information. It was these sprites that Shinichi now relied on to protect him while he was now out in the open.

Appeased, Kaito left Shinichi and Conan to their studies and went home, and the next week Conan went back to school under his real family name, confusing the hell out of the staff.

Conan still had the air of a child with an old soul even separated from Shinichi, was far more mature than his agemates, and had many of Shinichi's mannerisms, but after it was proven that the boy had a genuinely high IQ well past genius those details were easily accepted. Many administrators wanted him placed in advanced classes, but Shinichi and his parents rather violently refused, remembering how miserable Shinichi had been back when he'd been in those classes.

Life settled down after a while, Conan happily in school with his friends, Shinichi finally back in his own school with Ran as his official girlfriend, and their parents settling in at the Kudou house once more. Kaito dropped in almost daily, teaching the brothers all sorts of tricks while learning about detective work from them at the same time, magic studies notwithstanding.

In all, things were going good for Shinichi, but life does follow patterns.

-xXx

Friday was a dreary, disgustingly wet day, but Kaito was perky as could be. Tonight he had a gig at a big art exhibition party/kid game premiere. He was going as a Kid impersonator again, but hey, at least this time he was getting paid!

He had a wonderful time teasing Hakuba with his IQ test scores, taunting the Britt with the paper for two weeks until the blonde snapped and snagged it from him, and then laughing himself silly at his rival's reaction to the score. Soon it was all over the school that Kuroba Kaito rated as a genius, to just about everyone's shock.

Aoko hadn't been too surprised, given she'd grown up with the Magician and knowing his uncanny knack for just about anything that didn't involve ice skating. For a kid that could solve a Rubix cube in one fifteen minute sitting at four years old, high scores were hardly a shock.

That evening however, Kaito's day was about to turn sour.

Very, very sour.

-xXx

It was a miserable night weather-wise, but the party in the exhibition hall was going strong. A high end art exhibit was featuring famous works and jewels from across the world, and oddly enough Kid hadn't sent notice to steal any of it!

Well, one reason there was no heist tonight was because this was also a kid event, the premiere of several new video games and other interesting interactive technologies. Kid had a very strong point of not disturbing children's events, so much that the normal heist notice was more of a rain-check notice, detailing in plain words that the thief was not showing up that night.

The second reason, and quite possibly the biggest, was that Kaito was currently chasing his wayward cousin. The east detective had left for the party right before Mordio-sensei had shown up in Kaito's lair, where the magician was dressing up as 'Kid'. The doctor had found a severe problem with Shinichi's health from his last checkup the month before, and calculated that the toxin, now no longer able to revert him to child-size, would cause massive damage to his heart and nervous system if the levels rose any higher.

Kaito fought the urge to curse something, literally. Without the controlling medication, Shinichi could suffer a heart attack and a seizure at the same time!

He finished getting dressed in record time, and tucked the emergency medication kit into his pocket-space and took off, cheating most of the distance in a teleport and taking a taxi the rest of the way. Thankfully he had the foresight to leave the monocle and cape off for the trip, keeping the cape in his hat and monocle in his breast pocket, so he simply looked like a white-suited young gentleman on his way to a party.

The hotel was not quite convinced that he was on the guest list until he explained that he was the Kid impersonator hired for the show. When they finally gave him access to the top floor ballroom he began scanning the crowd for his cousin, but was dragged to the stage once he was spotted by the host.

"Ah, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, tonight we have a special treat!" the man announced cheerfully. "The Sawa group is happy to present, Kaitou Kid!"

Kaito was forced to grin and bear it as all attention focused on him, and using a puff of smoke for a dramatic entrance, he appeared on stage in full costume and began his show, scanning the audience whenever he had the chance.

The crowd of kids just loved the show, especially when he pulled several from the audience to participate in some of his tricks. He was roped into many impromptu photos with the kids, but to see such happy expressions on their bright faces was worth it.

Conan and his little friends were there too, and the mini detective nearly giggled himself silly when Kaito asked him to be the one to handcuff him for an escape trick. In a bare moment, after some impressive contortions and a bit of juggling, the handcuffs were suddenly found dangling from the chandelier some thirty feet up, and while everyone was staring at the cuffs, Kaito finally had a chance to ask Conan an question.

"Ne Conan, where's your brother?"

Conan looked up at his cousin, a strange look in his eye. "He's been following Sawa-san's assistant Takeda-san around, he said he sensed something suspicious."

Kaito swore under his breath. "Damn Druid instincts." he muttered. "So, does he think this Takeda-san is going die, or kill?"

The boy shrugged. "No idea, but he felt really...twitchy, when I met him."

"Twitchy-scared or twitchy-nervous?"

"If I knew, wouldn't I have said so already Kaito-nii-chan?"

The magician blinked, then chuckled darkly, ruffling Conan's hair. "Touche, you got me. Now, do you know where they are?"

Conan shrugged again. "Last I saw they were over that way." he said, pointing. "But that was an hour ago, why don't you ask Tou-san?"

"Good point." the teen said, then turned on his announcer voice. "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, the magic show will now be taking a forty minute intermission, please keep off the stage at this time."

He scooped Conan up and leapt off the stage. "There, I don't want anyone getting caught in that wiretrap tightrope rig I set up earlier."

"Ok, but you should get some food before you hunt Nii-chan down." the boy quipped, heading for the snack table once Kaito put him back on his feet.

Smiling in amusement the magician followed, meeting Ran, Sonoko, and Aoko by the punch bowl.

"Hey ladies! How are you fine flowers doing tonight? Enjoy the show?"

Aoko giggled. "Sure have, I didn't know you could bend like that." she said, turning a bit pink. "We were talking about how you should do that trick in a different costume, the suit gets in the way, doesn't it?"

Sonoko leered. "Oh we weren't even thinking that, you were saying just how sexy it would be if he did it shirtless with tights, or no tights." the heiress said teasingly, a mischievous and knowing smirk on her face.

Aoko tuned beet red, and Kaito flushed pink even through his poker face.

"S-sonoko-san! Ran! Make her stop!"

Ran couldn't respond, she was laughing too hard. Sonoko laughed and continued. "Don't try to deny it missy, we know you were fantasizing about your magician here." she said, prodding the poor girl. "You were talking about just how much you look forward to gym class because that means you get to see his cute butt with those tight gym shorts he wears."

The gossip queen added insult to injury and mortification by smacking Kaito's ass. "I can see why though, you've got a great catch!"

Conan giggled. "Sonoko-nee-san, you shouldn't have done that."

"What do you mean chibi?"

An explosion of smoke, and Sonoko's dress was replaced with a horridly poofy, acid green and mustard yellow monstrosity, her hair turned a day-glow orange pigtails, and her lipstick electric blue.

"That's why."

Sonoko shrieked and ran off to fix the fashion disaster, everyone in the vicinity howling with laughter. The only one not really amused was Aoko.

"Why did you do that? You know I hate it when you strip people like that."

Kaito rubbed his stinging backside, blushing from the rather unwanted invasion of his personal space. "She deserved it, and besides, all I did was put the stuff on top of what she was already wearing."

Aoko backed down, appeased. "If I catch you really vanishing a girl's clothes, you'll really be in for it."

"Yes ma'am." he said, saluting. "Now Ran, have you seen your boyfriend lately? I've been trying to find him all night."

Ran shrugged and went back to her plate. "I haven't see him for awhile, he must have gotten into a conversation with Hattori-kun or Hakuba-kun about detective things."

Kaito sighed, turning to leave, but was stopped by his girlfriend stuffing a creampuff in his mouth. "You just hold on a minute, you haven't eaten all night, I've been watching you. You're going to stay right here until you've had something to eat."

He laughed and swallowed the pastry. "I guess if my lady demands it." he said, surrendering. "Is there anything good?"

Twenty minutes and a helping of dinner later he was back to combing the ballroom for his cousin. After asking Yusaku, the invited police officers, Conan's ducklings, and several other people, he was forced to leave the and go searching other rooms.

He didn't expect to hear a scream of mortal terror coming from the ballroom, so he ran back at full tilt, only to discover that the executive assistant Takeda-san hanging from the rafting of the stage, blood spattering the wooden floor from the man's slit throat.

Stunned, his first reaction was to vanish, and so he did, up into the rafters above the stage to check if his rig had been tripped, it hadn't. Two men were approaching the body, Mouri-san and Inspector Megure if he remembered correctly, and gasped as the elder detective was about to cross the tripline.

"Stop! Don't go any closer!" he yelled.

Mouri froze. "Who's there?"

Kaito snagged a rope from the scaffold and slid halfway to floor-level. "It's me. Don't approach the body, I set up a wire rig here earlier, if you set it off wrong you could break your legs or worse."

"Kaito! What did you set up?" called Shinichi.

The magician stayed where he was, hanging from his rope one handed. "Tightrope rig." he said, pointing out a near invisible net of wire. "It's supposed to snap into full tension when it's triggered, tight enough to walk on and do stunts."

Shinichi sighed heavily. "Fine timing to set something like this up, the victim just died hanging from those same rafters." he snapped irritably, but not directly at his cousin. "Pull that rig into tension so we can approach safely then get your ass down here!"

Kaito only nodded and climbed back up the rope, concerned at the sweat he could see on his cousin's face, but said nothing. Seconds later the net of wires was pulled into full tension just like he said, and he reappeared to the side, ducking strands set at various heights.

"Sorry about the mess." he said blandly, taking off his hat and scratching his head. "I wasn't expecting a murder to happen on stage."

A young officer accompanying the inspector gasped. "It's him! He has to be the murderer!" he yelled and lunged forward. "You're under arrest!"

Kaito justifiably panicked and jumped straight up into the wires, leaving the officer to run into the chest-level wire that was directly behind him, knocking the wind out of himself. To the rest of the onlookers, it appeared that he vanished, but Shinichi knew better. "Baka, get down from there."

Kaito crouched in a perch on a wire twelve feet off the ground. "No way, not until you're sure people aren't going to tackle me!"

"Is that all you're worried about?" a rather peeved Hakuba asked. "Shouldn't you be more concerned that you could be arrested?"

"Oi! I know my own rigs, that guy hanging there isn't my doing!" Kaito said irritably. "From what I saw up there he's hanging directly from the middle of the light boom, my net only goes up all the way at the corners of the stage! The way I see it, I'm more worried about being _falsely _arrested!"

"Leave him alone Hakuba." drawled an annoyed Hattori. "It's not like we could catch him if he really doesn't want to be caught, you see how fast that guy can move."

"Quite, but that doesn't mean I believe in his innocence."

Shinichi scoffed. "If he was guilty he'd be long gone and we'd never find him again. The fact that he's staying in relatively close quarters means he's willing to cooperate." he said, nodding to Megure. "Inspector, this is the same rigging expert I recommended for that grapple-hook case."

"Oh! I remember, the young magician!"

Kaito waved from his perch. "Nice to see you again Megure-keibu. If you don't mind, I'll be staying right were I am until you can promise me I'm not going to be manhandled." he said in a chipper voice, but his cheer sounded rather forced. "Please make up you mind soon though, I don't like the idea of standing this close to our hangedman here..."

Megure nodded. "You have my word, no one will touch you, please come down."

Kaito obliged, and instead of simply jumping he took the time to swing down with his hands first, and then dropped to ground level so as not to startle anyone.

He was questioned, just like everyone else, as to where he was at the time of the victim's death, given that Takeda-san died from a broken neck first, then bleeding out from the throat because the thin wire used to hang him ripped open the jugular. He answered truthfully that he had been in the halls when he heard the scream, looking for Shinichi.

At first several cops thought this made it all the more suspicious that he was the killer, having no alibi, but quick check with the security center proved that he had been in the same hall as he said at the time of death, having been caught on camera walking at a normal pace, before freezing and turning back to the ballroom.

Alibi cleared, they then moved onto method, when they had a bit of a hiccup. No one was able to actually get up to the point in the rafters where the victim was hung from, nor could they find an anchor point. Normally light booms were raised and lowered for maintenance and adjustments by pulley systems, but this particular one was jammed in place for some unknown reason.

After much discussion, they finally agreed to allow Kaito up into the scaffold to find the other end of the noose. To avoid ticking anyone off Kaito restrained himself from simply flying up to his destination and instead took the time to climb up in a more visible manner. Leaving his hat and cape with Aoko below he clambered up smoothly, somehow avoiding getting any form of dirt, dust, or grease on his pristine white suit.

In minutes he found what he was looking for and came back down.

"What is it?" asked Megure.

"Can I borrow a camera, a pair of latex gloves, a screwdriver, and a wrench?" he asked. "I found the rig, someone hijacked the boom winch, the cable to lower the light track is what's holding the guy up. I thought you'd like me to photograph the evidence before I might have to mangle the winch to get it to release."

Shinichi had to prod several people to get them to get Kaito the requested items, but once they did the magician was able to quickly reverse the winch without damaging it, photographing every step he took for evidence as he had to partially dismantle it. Once he had the body lowered he came back down and gave the camera and tools back.

While the detectives analyzed the photos and a mangled piece from the winch casing Kaito brought down the magician was forced to stand aside.

"I have it!" cried Shinichi, Hakuba, and Hattori all at once.

Kaito smiled and allowed his eyes to close as the detectives began their deduction show. Turns out the assistant had been having an affair with the female president of a rival company, and the woman had taken advantage of Kaito's presence, and his reputation for rigs, to silence the man and her backdoor dealings.

That taken care of Kaito was cleared of suspicion and released, just in time to catch sight of Shinichi absentmindedly downing a cocktail as it was offered to him, and Hakuba scolding him for making that mistake twice...

"Shit! Shinichi!"

The paranoid rookie that had tried to jump Kaito before tackled the teen when he lunged for his cousin. "You stay down! I'm not letting you attack a detective!"

Kaito growled, struggling. "Get off me you idiot!"

"Kudou!"

Hattori's shout brought everyone's attention to the teen detectives, and the fact that Shinichi had doubled over, clutching his chest.

"Shinichi!" Ran cried, rushing to her boyfriend and feeling his sweaty forehead for fever. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Ran and the other detectives continued questioning Shinichi, but he couldn't respond, gasping for breath as the tremors began and he gave a strangled cry of pain.

Kaito panicked, and with one powerful twist he threw the cop off him bodily, only to be slammed into again by three larger officers. Frustrated, he leapt over their heads and to Shinichi's side, shoving Hakuba away. "Move it and back up! He's having a seizure!" he shouted and pointed to Yusaku and a tall officer as his cousin's convulsions worsened. "You two, Ran and Hattori hold him down! I can't dose him if he's thrashing!"

Stunned, everyone moved to obey his barked orders. Hattori and Yusaku restrained Shinichi's powerful legs while the officer pinned down his arms. Ran took a pair of handkerchiefs and twisted them together, creating a gag to keep the teen from biting his tongue, and braced his head with a solid grip.

"What's happening?" she asked, panicked. "Why is he having a seizure?"

"He's got a toxin disorder after all those infections and poisons." Kaito explained, almost fumbling with the emergency injection kit. "He can't have alcohol or it'll raise the toxin levels and cause a surge! He was supposed to get his medication hours ago!"

Hakuba snagged the case of the kit and helped Kaito assemble the injection gun. "How much dosage?" he asked.

"Twenty Ccs."

"Done."

"Good." Kaito said, snagging the capsule and loading the gun. "Ran, hold his head to the side, I have to get this in his neck."

She did so, against Shinichi's struggles, allowing Kaito to rip open his collar and discharge the injection into his artery.

As the medication took effect the convulsions slowed and eventually settled, the teen breathing heavily through the gag.

Kaito just about collapsed in relief. "Thank god...I was scared that wasn't going to work." he said, carefully putting the injector back in the case. "Don't move him just yet, wait till his pulse slows down, doctor's orders."

Aoko stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Is this why you were looking for him earlier?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, our doctor caught me before I left the house, told me about the alcohol problem. Alcohol's a poison, any more in his system and it could cause a surge just like this, and surges can lead to heart failure via seizure." he said, leaning into his girlfriend's embrace. "His control medication is still in the works, but Mordio-sensei had the emergency meds rushed just in case, good thing he did."

Everyone around them gave a low gasp and looked back at the now unconscious teen, now aware that he could have died in this episode. Kaito fell back in exhaustion, falling into a fitful doze as the paramedics whisked Shinichi away to the hospital, where he would spend the next few days under observation.

Afterwards Ran made it her mission to keep an eye on Shinichi, making certain that he didn't accidentally poison himself again, and Kaito left her to it, one less thing for him to worry about.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Sniper

A week after the ballroom fiasco Kaito decided it was time for another heist.

Alerting his cousin, he suggested that they lay bait to trap an organization operative at the private mansion in the semi-forested area. Ten to one would say that an assassin would rather strike from greater cover, and Shinichi agreed. Together they would fool both the police (with possible moles) as well as agents. If the organization really was after Kid, then the Magician and Druid were going to do everything they could to catch them.

-xXx

The long muzzle of a rifle, decked with a silencer, followed Shinichi's form as he flitted through the gathered officers at a private mansion. A Kid notice had been delivered in the owner's breakfast the week before, and the riddle was worked out to read that Kid was after a spectacular piece of green tourmaline along with other pieces in the large gem collection. The owner demanded that the best of the best came to guard his prize collection, and Shinichi was drafted.

A certain organization's snipers, Chianti and Koln, were present in the shadows. They were waiting to shoot Kid, but a long missing, listed dead, detective would also be a nice prize.

What no one knew was that there were _two _Shinichi's there, one on each side of the manor. The real one was well away from the crowd, waiting for the strike, while Kid, dressed as him, was in the thick of it.

Kaito, in his disguise as his cousin, was discussing security measures with Nakamouri, Aoko at his side, when he heard a faint whisper, like an owl's cry warped in a breeze.

'_Danger, danger, abunai! Bad men, bad men, metal arrows!'_

Kaito's eyes widened, recognizing the pattern to the whisper.

Snipers.

A wisp of smoke curled to the left of his vision, and he knew where the sniper was aiming and where he was aiming from. He couldn't duck, or it would hit Aoko, but he couldn't exactly take a bullet to the head and survive!

'_ABUNAI'_

There was the signal, and Kaito acted. Lunging to the right, he knocked Aoko aside and felt the round pierce his shoulder, dangerously close to a lung, but a second punched a hole in his stomach. The crowd surged, coming forward to investigate the 'detective's' sudden collapse, and someone screamed as they spotted the blood.

"Kudo-kun!" Nakamouri yelped. "Are you alright?"

Kaito couldn't respond. Feeling blood welling up in his abdomen he coughed, focusing through the pain to project an illusion of Kid atop the mansion, in the opposite direction from the sniper's fire, for the crowd to see, before letting it disappear.

"Kudo-kun!"

"Oh my god, is he alright?"

"Someone get the paramedics!"

"KAITO!"

The real Shinichi broke through the crowd to his fallen cousin, gathering him into his arms and trying to stem the bleeding. Cursing, he sent a silent command to his ghosts to sabotage the snipers and prevent their escape, and they did so with rather savage glee.

"The bullets came from that direction!" Shinichi yelled, throwing an arm towards the woods. "Get the shooter!"

Two dozen officers rushed forward at the command, and the other half began scouting the area.

Aoko fell to her knees as well, pressing hard against the wound in Kaito's stomach and kissing her boyfriend on the forehead, trying to comfort both him and herself. The paramedics rushed to the scene and quickly gathered the limp teen onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.

"Adolescent male, eighteen years old, two gunshot wounds to the torso." stated one medic into the radio. "No exit wounds, likely high caliber, current blood loss at substantial rates. Emergency surgery required!"

"_**Copy that, ER will be prepped and ready for your arrival. Do you have the patient's blood type?"**_

The medic looked to Aoko and Shinichi. "Do you know his blood type?"

"B-negative." Shinichi said.

"My blood's type B too! You can use me for a donor!" Aoko cried, gripping Kaito's hand desperately.

The medic waved a hand in a gesture to settle down. "Calm down, he's not critical yet." he said and turned back to the radio. "Patient is blood type B-negative."

"_**Copy that, Emergency surgery room is prepared for your arrival."**_

The medic put the radio receiver back in it's place and went back to tending Kaito's bullet wounds. "What I would like to know is why exactly he was shot."

Shinichi swore. "He was impersonating me for the Kid heist. He'd be the distraction in the crowd while I guarded the mark, no one knew there were two of us." he said truthfully, fishing through Kaito's jacket pockets. "I didn't know that snipers would be targeting _me_ instead of the thief!"

Aoko fought desperately against her tears, and was suitably distracted when Shinichi handed her a ball of white fur. "Ah! Shiro-chan!"

The medic looked halfway between amusement and incredulity. "He keeps a _cat _in his pockets?"

"He takes that cat everywhere, little guy's small enough." Shinichi said, turning his attention back his cousin's pale face. "At least he didn't bring any of his doves this time."

"...I'm not going to ask."

-xXx

Kaito was brought to the hospital in record time and wheeled into emergency surgery. It stunned the doctors that he remained perfectly conscious until they anaesthetized him.

Meimi was informed as soon as Shinichi had a moment free to call her, given that he had to fill out medical forms and try to keep Aoko from freaking out. He also called Ran, telling her to bring Conan to help distract the distraught girl, who was currently watching the surgery room doors with blank eyes, holding a quietly mewing kitten-disguised dragon to her chest.

The silence was broken three times, once by a frantic Hakuba and Kuroba Meimi, the second by Nakamouri, three of his task force officers, and Inspector Megure with several of his squad, and the third by the arrival of Ran and Conan.

Ran joined Meimi in soothing a distraught Aoko, and Conan clung to his brother as stress leaked between their bond while the detective was questioned about the shooting.

"Kudou-kun, where exactly were you when the shots were fired?" Takagi-keigi asked, notebook open and pen at the ready. "Officers have captured three people, two with rifles, in the direction you pointed out, how did you know?"

Shinichi looked drawn and pale as he held his little brother rather like an over sized stuffed animal in his shaking arms. "I...I was on the balcony above the courtyard, facing Kaito. Fifteen minutes before that I was in the guard room watching Kid's mark, but I had a bad feeling that something was wrong, so I went to check on Kaito."

Takagi frowned. "What exactly is your relationship with this Kaito?"

"We're cousins. We look so much alike that it makes impersonating each other easy, but Kaito's a lot better at the acting part. I asked him to help me try to fool Kid, but I guess our plan didn't make it that far..."

"And the snipers?"

Shinichi chuckled darkly. "I know enough about guns and gunshot wounds to reverse-calculate trajectory, and the fact that I can really trust Kaito's sixth-sense. The guy almost always knows when a blow is coming his way."

All the assembled officers and detectives, save Nakamouri, raised a brow in question.

"Kudou-kun, how could your cousin possibly dodge a rifle shot?"

Conan giggled. "You've never seen Kaito-nii-chan move, he can be on one side of the room, and the next second he's behind you! He's a really great magician!"

Takagi looked unconvinced, but jotted down a note about Kaito's 'extreme speed and reaction time'. "Well, if he could dodge a bullet on sheer instinct, then why didn't he just duck?"

"His girlfriend was right next to him, if he ducked, the bullets would have hit and killed her instead. His first reaction to danger is almost always 'is everyone safe?', so the first thing he'd do is get someone that's in immediate danger out of harm's way." Shinichi explained, calming down as Conan's presence soothed him. "My guess is that they were aiming for his head and his heart from the higher up on left, so when he lunged to the right the levels were thrown off."

The detective shrugged and wrote the teen's observation down. "Now, how did you get onto the scene so fast if you were on the balcony?"

It was Shinichi's turn to shrug. "I jumped."

Nakamouri sputtered around his unlit pipe. "What? But that balcony was at least twenty meters off the ground!"

"Kaito taught me how to land from higher heights just as easily."

Takagi twitched. "Well, that explains why a witness claimed seeing a young man falling from the balcony."

A faint titter of laughter echoed in the waiting room, but the group then fell silent and the officers left to finish cleaning up the mess and question the captured snipers.

An hour passed before anyone spoke again, but only because the waiting room door almost slammed open.

Shinichi and Conan looked up and gasped in shocked relief. "Mordio-sensei!"

The tall man swept into the room, looking rather disheveled as his suit jacket was quite rumpled and his face a bit pinched, but he was bright and alert.

"Shinichi-kun, Conan-kun, I got here as soon as I could when I heard the news! Is Kaito-kun alright?"

"Still in surgery, but why are you in the country?"

Mordio took a moment to straighten his jacket and tie. "I couldn't trust your medications to shipments or a courier Shinichi-kun." he said sternly, holding up his briefcase.

Shinichi's eyes widened, he'd completely forgotten about his poisonous blood! Conan no longer had to worry about that problem, but the teen could possibly suffer very dramatic setbacks if the toxins in his blood weren't regulated, like the incident the previous week at the gala. He'd been prescribed the suppressant the month before, but the doctor had to finish formulating it to his particular strand of apotoxin.

"Oh, I forgot about that..."

Mordio laughed, gave Shinichi a bottle of his pills, then stalked off through the hospital, muttering about paperwork.

Aoko, having watched the exchange silently, spoke up. "Who was that?"

Conan piped up. "That's Mordio-sensei! He's our family doctor now since Nii-chan got sick, he's really good!"

Ran looked interested. "Really? But why did you ask why he was in the country?"

"He's a diagnostician in England, one of the best. He specializes in unusual cases, so he was the only one that figured out what was wrong with me." said Shinichi. "He looks after Kaito too, just because he's so strong and fast, makes a great case study."

He fell silent once again, and no one dared speak until the 'operation in progress' light finally went out and the doors opened. Multiple nurses wheeled the gurney down the hall, keeping very close watch on Kaito's vitals as they took him to the ICU for post-surgery observation.

Mordio greeted them in the ICU room, taking over the procedure with an expert hand and taking stock of Kaito's vitals for himself. The nurses and the head surgeon were worried that Kaito's heart was beating so slowly, even for sedation, but Mordio's professional presence soothed that worry.

"Kaito-kun is in far better shape that most athletes." he said mildly, feeling the teen's pulse. "As you know, a strong heart has to beat a great deal less often to circulate blood, so his resting heart rate is considerably slower than the average teen's. Now, how did the surgery go?"

"As smoothly as such an emergency procedure for a bullet in the stomach could go, but the bullet itself has me concerned." said the surgeon. "I was concerned that such a high caliber round was lodged in the back of his abdominal cavity, but it appears it was a hollow-point round. I'm having it sent to the labs for analysis."

Mordio and Shinichi's eyes widened in shock, then fear, and Shinichi began to swear.

The surgeon and nurses were taken aback at the explosive outburst. "My word, is something wrong?"

Conan clung to his brother's leg, eyes large in childish panic. "Those bad men were aiming for Kid, they know normal bullets don't faze him!" he squeaked. "Nii-chan thinks they put poison in the bullet!"

Mordio was also at the point of cursing. "How well did you flush out the wound?" he demanded.

"As thoroughly as possible, we were worried about infection."

"Good, bring me that bullet, I know what sort of poisons these scum like to use. Meanwhile, I have an antitoxin serum that I was bringing Shinichi-kun, we need to get it to Kaito immediately." he ordered, snapping open his briefcase and plucking a large vial of translucent yellow-white serum from the temperature-controlled and foam-lined case.

Shinichi recognized it instantly as Alhelios Tincture, but he played along. "Sensei, are you sure it's safe?"

"Positive." Mordio snapped, filling a small syringe with the serum and flicking it to dislodge any bubbles. "It won't hurt him, even if there is no poison for it to fight."

Before anyone could stop him he plunged the needle into the base of Kaito's IV line and pushed the antitoxin into the teen's blood. That done, he disposed of the syringe in the appropriate box for needles and swept off to the hospital's labs, barking orders to get the sniper round to him at once.

With the doctors gone save for two nurses running checks, the room went quiet, and Aoko was finally allowed to sit at her boyfriend's side.

She sniffed, fighting tears. "Is...is he going to be alright?" she asked desperately.

Shinichi gave her a loose hug. "Don't worry, he'll be up and pestering you again in no time, but only as long as you're there for him."

She smiled gratefully. "I will be."

-xXx

The bullet tested positive for apotoxin, but Mordio's preventive measures in administering the Tincture proved to be the right move. The antitoxin properties of the venom flushed Kaito's body of the deadly poison, and he was conscious again in thirty hours, Plume (still in kitten mode) draped on his good shoulder. The nurses had tried their best to remove the cat, but after three bites and five hours of hunting the ball of fluff around the hospital, they acquiesced and allowed him to remain with his master as long as he behaved.

With Mordio's treatments, Kaito's naturally rapid healing, and a good magical boost, the magician was released from the hospital in record time, and back in school only two days after that.

When Kaito came back to school, his left arm in a sling to protect his damaged shoulder and his lower torso wrapped in a brace he was the talk of the campus. After all, not everyone can say that their classmate survived a sniper attack.

He got many, many get well cards and candy boxes from his fans, so many that he had to beg Aoko to help him carry them. His girlfriend wasn't too pleased, but relented when he told her he wanted to pass the candy onto Conan and his friends, and use the cards for fire starters.

The day after the failed heist a notice from Kid appeared in the police station, a letter expressing his anger at the snipers' actions, his well-wishes for the injured teen to recover swiftly, and a notice that he will be postponing his activities until further notice. Shinichi had drafted the letter while Kaito was unconscious and had one of his cousin's doves deliver it. Thankfully no one bothered to notice the ever-so-slightly different handwriting, Shinichi just couldn't finesse a quill the way Kaito could.

Things slowed down awhile for the thief while Kaito recovered, but Shinichi tore into the fray concerning the captured Chianti and Koln with a near violent energy. Gathering evidence collected by his ghosts he managed to alert the FBI to the presence of the syndicate without revealing his involvement, and the information 'somehow' was leaked to the press.

The Black Syndicate was now exposed, and no single assassination could silence the public's awareness. It wasn't the best outcome from the heist they could have gotten, but the Druid was pleased at the progress.

Now, to take on the rest of them!

-xXx

A.N. I apologize for not updating recently, but the holidays are a busy time for me and I had several paintings to finish for Christmas commissions.

On the other hand, some of you asked for an explanation on the mechanics of the magic system I use here, and I will include it in the next chapter.

Happy New Year everyone!


	9. Magical Mechanics

Magical Mechanics

Mechanics 1

The magic in this world functions both very loosely and very strictly at the same time. Magical practitioners are primarily self taught, with the uncommon exception of a master-apprentice situation, but this is rare as magic users of the same type rarely live in the same areas. Every magic user has a method of learning, a focus of their powers, and a guide in either the form of familiars (Magicians), contracts (Witches and Warlocks), or elders and animal spirit guides (Wizards and Wicca).

Magicians are the most powerful of the triad of human magic users, drawing from internal reserves and their focus, primarily an artifact created by their class of familiar. Magicians are self taught from their Incantus, made for them individually by their Clan, Clans being the type of sentient magical being a Magician is tied to for support and patronage. A magician's Incantus will bear the parts of their personal seal without exception.

Special Types of Magicians:

Dragonite.

Considered the most powerful of Magicians, bonded to two or more Dragon Clans. Dragons are the strongest of magical creatures, and sentient dragons are the longest lived. Dragon Clans are named for types of gemstones. Each Clan has a preference in the types of Magician they sponsor, primarily based on personality and talents.

Dragon Types are classified on an individual basis. There are no true "breeds", so the types are more like ranks than anything.

Prism- known best for their versatility and pure adaptability, the five Prism branches of the dragon clans are patrons to the creative and adaptable.

Diamond- form and function at their highest. Diamonds are both beautiful and highly useful.

Crystal- Highly useful and adaptive, less sturdy but performing some of the same things as diamonds.

Opal- delicate dragons, but highly venomous and masters of ambush hunting.

Tormaline- otherwise known as Rainbow dragons, shapeshifters.

Moonstone- high awareness and self control.

(Note: Plume is a crossbreed of Diamond and Opal, so he's gonna be a tough little guy when he's grown.)

Druid

Druids are Death Magicians, rather like priests, exorcists, mediums, and counselors to the dead. Druids are bonded to Clans related to death, with Shinigami at the highest of the order. They have the unparalleled ability to connect with spirits and ghosts, able to speak directly with and manipulate them.

Healer

Healers are a mishmash of types, and can be from any other class basis. If their work coincides with medicine, they generally become doctors of their own choosing.

Spell Mechanics

Spells are defined as willful use of magical energy to achieve an effect. Most 'spells' are simply directing a flow of energy to make it do what you want, but some are meticulously formatted to be constant and safe for other magic users. One Magician may create a spell, test it, then he or she will leave records of their spell for fellow Magicians in the archive.

Teleporting

Teleporting is done mostly by following natural energy lines (lay lines) over large distances like a roadmap, then pressing through less energy dense areas to the precise spot desired. Urban areas make this considerably easier because there are so many electrical lines to follow to minute places.

The Archive

The Archive functions basically like a computer network, the central archive is the server and all Incantus are terminals, collecting copies of documents submitted by Magicians and connected to every existing Incantus. A Magician can 'download' documents to their books or erase them temporarily, just like you can add or remove data from your computer.

xXx

There, an outline of basic magical structure in my story. There is no elemental scheme, that's been overdone to death! If a Magician has a thing for fire, than so be it, but that does not make them a 'firemage' or anything like it, your class of magic has more to do with your Clan and what you do with your powers than any preferences.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Magical Revelations

To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention, Kuroba's recovery was unusually rapid. In only two weeks, he was able to use his shoulder to near full capacity, and a week after that it was if he had never been shot. The only sign of the incident after that was a tendency to protect his abdomen, as if it still pained him slightly, but that faded rapidly.

Hakuba was particularly suspicious of the magician. The only other person in the world known to recover from bullet wounds so quickly, and actually quicker, was the infamous Kid. The thief was known to heal from such injuries at incredible speed, a bullet in the thigh healed in only a week for instance.

More suspicious was Kuroba's peculiar behavior regarding his interactions with his so called cousin, Kudou Shinichi. He had caught the pair of them talking once, about ghosts of all things. They weren't debating their existence, but whether or not Kudou had tracked down the spirit of victim from a fifteen year old cold case yet.

Hakuba knew that Kudou did not believe in the supernatural, but he seemed to be buying into Kuroba's new fascination with the arcane, the two of them trading research notes whenever they believed no one was watching. More so, he caught sight of both of them carrying similar, old style leather bound tomes, talking or writing in a strange language that sounded and looked oddly like J.R.R. Tolkin's elvish, but somewhat more tonal and had a distinctly Japanese twist and a more complicated script. Any of his attempts to get a sample of this writing to study was foiled either by Kuroba or pure chance. Kudou appeared to write his case notes in this language, and Kuroba often doodled these symbols in the margins of his notebooks, but for some reason none of these samples ever came within his reach.

He had tried consulting Aoko-kun on the matter, but she had no knowledge of what exactly was in those black leather books, only that Kaito's had a pretty white dragon on the front and Shinichi's a white owl, both with ornate locks. And as for the language, her only comment was that Kaito seemed to like singing in it, soft lyrical songs just above a whisper.

Frustrated, he asked if she could acquire a sample of this written language for him, and was infinitely grateful when she agreed. She wasn't going to pry in to her boyfriend's private business, but if she came across anything she would make a photocopy of it.

Two days later she approached him with a photocopy as promised, giggling. When Hakuba asked, she said that Kaito had just left it in her textbook, as if the magician knew what the detective was after and felt a bit of pity to his frustration.

Well, while he was happy to have the writing, any of his efforts to decode it ended in even more frustration. The language visually resembled Tolkin's elvish, but the character structure was more complex and fiddly and there was next to no discernible spacing between words. The linguistics department of his grandfather's labs were almost to the point of tears trying to work on this impossible puzzle, the code simply did not translate to any known language.

And Kuroba simply kept on smiling in that infuriatingly charming way of his, his little white cat on his shoulder and pulling magic tricks out of nowhere as usual.

That cat was also a puzzle. Shiro-chan, as Aoko-kun called it, was abnormally intelligent. Kuroba could ask it a direct question or send it to fetch a named item and the animal would respond accurately. The cat seemed to smuggle itself to school in it's master's pockets or schoolbag, appear once the bell had rung, and remain with Kuroba all day either on the magician's shoulders or on his lap. It also avoided anyone outside of Kuroba and Aoko-kun like the plague, always escaping the touch of an unwanted person by disappearing in to Kuroba's jacket or Aoko-kun's arms. It seemed to hate Koizumi-san in particular, actually hissing or biting at the redhead on occasion.

So many puzzles surrounded Kuroba, so many more than before when he merely assumed the teen was Kaitou Kid. Incredible healing, talk of seances, ancient books, secret codes, and abnormally intelligent animals.

Hakuba had had enough. He was going to get answers, no matter what he had to do to get them.

-xXx

Fully healed, Kaito could finally to get back to work. Aoko had hardly left his side while he had been recovering, so he hadn't had any time alone to actually study. He loved his girlfriend dearly, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to do his work with her constantly hanging around.

Honestly, he was considering telling her the truth about his real magic. He was getting tired of lying to her, of ditching her for his night job, of keeping so many secrets, not to mention that witch, Akako, had recently stepped up her efforts to bewitch him, following the old rules of courtship for magical practitioners.

Magic users had a very particular set of traditions regarding relationships. A magician had to lay full claim to their partner and vice-versa, meaning a fully physical relationship beyond just kissing, but said relationship had to be founded on trust and magic, of complete mutual consent. However, other schools of magic did not share the same sentiments of equal partnership, meaning Witches and Warlocks, by their magic, could bind a person by force.

As much as he wanted to go farther with Aoko, he couldn't without giving her all of his secrets, about his powers, his alter ego, his job...he had no idea how to break all of this to her, so his dilemma only deepened.

Akako knew this, and was taking advantage of it. If it wasn't for Kaito's natural resistance to illusion and lower level charms she'd have already trapped him while he and his magic were recovering from his wounds. The attacks slowed his healing significantly, giving the witch even more time to weave her magic.

He was getting frustrated, both mentally and physically, as the assaults were made to raise a victim's libido and draw them to the caster for relief. For now he could negate it by being physically close to Aoko, even if it wasn't intimately, but it was only a matter of time before a stronger witch would attack with far stronger tactics. Akako simply wanted him out of spite, but anyone else would bind him to leech his powers after she'd conceived her heir off him, eventually killing him.

He could only hope that his wards would hold, he did not want to be forced away from the only mate he could ever see himself spending the rest of his life with.

-xXx

Aoko herself was noticing a change in her boyfriend's behavior. For a good while he was substantially subdued, and for a time she believed it was from his injuries, but he usually perked up when they left school.

He was also increasingly hostile to Akako, going beyond his normal coolness to outright cold-shoulder and biting comments. At odd times he would stiffen, then twist in his seat to glare at the redhead, a look in his eyes that made Aoko rather uncomfortable.

On the other hand, he was more affectionate with his girlfriend on a personal level, little kisses in public and cuddling when they were alone, singing those whisper songs and sweet nothings in her ear. Aoko definitely enjoyed the attention, of how he made her feel wanted, but something was nagging at her senses whenever they were close, an energy tingling just under his skin that made her feel so...alive.

It was that touch that made her want to be so close, despite her lack of confidence. He never touched or grabbed her inappropriately, only at less sensitive spots like her waist, back, or her arms, but the way he did it just made it feel so sensual. Every deep kiss made her heart quicken, his caresses sending shivers across her skin, and his voice, oh don't get her started on his low, husky voice.

Sometimes his voice reminded her of her encounter with Kid, and subsequently started another round of dreams, only this time involving Kaito in his Kid costume, and sometimes removal of said costume. After one particularly vivid dream Aoko could never look at white silk the same way again.

One of these days she was going to figure out what exactly Kaito was hiding from her, but for now she was happy with having his friendship.

-xXx

One evening Kaito decided to take Aoko out to a nice restaurant in Beika, meeting up with Shinichi and Ran for a double date. The magician had money to spare, having been paid quite handsomely for his performances as a Kid impersonator, and he bought his girlfriend a very nice necklace. Suffice to say that deep blue was Aoko's favorite color, and a bright sparkly crystal pendant would make any girl's day.

Just seeing her expression when he opened that box at the restaurant was priceless. Really, was it that easy to please a girl if you got her something shiny?

"Oh Kaito! You didn't!"

Kaito was all smiles. "If I didn't, this wouldn't be here now would it?"

Aoko squealed and kissed him, Shinichi and Ran laughing in the background, until the detective pulled the same trick with his girlfriend and presented her with a pair of earrings. Soon both girls were giggling and gushing with praise, their boyfriends feeling quite pleased with themselves as they ordered their meals.

Dinner and dessert went smoothly, both couples having a great time, until the inevitable happened at the dance club they went to after dinner. A man dropped dead at the bar, and no fewer than fifteen people were possible suspects. Shinichi was first on the scene, cursing his luck under his breath.

"Nobody approaches the body or leaves the building!" he ordered. "Ran, call the police, Kaito, you're on crowd control! Aoko, tell the bouncers to guard the doors, no one gets in or out until the police get here!"

Aoko shrank back. "But what if they don't listen to me?" she asked, scared.

"Tell them Kudou Shinichi told you, now go!"

Everyone scampered off to their assigned task. Kaito had everyone corralled into groups away from the bar while Shinichi examined the scene. Megure-keibu was there in record time along with the homicide squad.

"Ahh Kudou-kun, what a coincidence." the inspector said blandly. "And you are here because...?"

Shinichi scowled. "Hey, it's not my fault I'm cursed! Kaito and I came here on a double date with our girlfriends!" he snapped. "I guess it's too much to hope that I could have just one evening out without dead bodies falling at my feet."

The officers flinched back at unusual bite in the teen detective's tone, but they went about their normal procedures of questioning the witnesses and examining the scene. However, they had a bit of a stumbling block, Kaito kept wandering around as if in a daze.

"Kaito!" Shinichi said, grabbing his cousin and yanking him out of the way. "You're going to get trampled, stay put."

Aoko came over, concerned. "He's been doing that for the past half hour, I think he's in shock."

Shinichi shook the magician hard, but there was no response.

"What's wrong Kaito? You've been really out of it." asked Aoko, hugging his arm. "Please, you're scaring me!"

Kaito stiffened, his eyes darting around the room, pupils dilated to alarming size and his irises faintly glowing. "Trails...they're everywhere..." he muttered. "...burns, blood...myrrh..."

Aoko held him tighter. "Kaito! You're not making sense!"

Shinichi pushed them both to an empty bench. "Sit down, he's not really conscious right now." he said. "Most likely he's in a tracker's trance, he won't come out of it 'till he finds the source of whatever's he sensing. He only found that ability last week, so he doesn't have much control yet."

"Tracker's trance? What on earth are you talking about Shinichi?" asked Ran, coming over their way. "Is something wrong?"

Shinichi shrugged. "My guess is that our victim was hit by some sort of spell, Kaito fell into this state after he got close to the body, all of his senses are hyper aware right now."

Both girls blinked in shock. "Wait...did you just say that man was killed by a spell, and mean it?"

"'Difordian Crush'." said Kaito, seeming to snap out of whatever it was. "Poison spell, has to be ingested. Causes fatal heart attack or aneurysm, nasty way to die."

Shinichi leaned over the magician. "Are you sure it's a 'Crush'?"

Kaito snorted. "Damn straight, whoever dosed the guy should smell like a cocktail of poisons, sticky sweet almond with a major hit of rose-hip oil." he said, shuddering violently. "Perfume, strong enough to kill your sinuses."

Shinichi nodded and clapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Thanks for the tip, you just stay here and pull yourself back together, your aura's a bit stretched."

"Sure."

The detective left, and the girls turned to Kaito in confusion.

"What was that all about?" Aoko asked, rubbing his back when he bent over, a hand over his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm going to need a strong shot of something after this..." he moaned, a headache beginning to pound behind his eyes. "Here I thought we could have a nice, normal date without nothing happening."

That said, Kaito remained silent for the entire time Shinichi worked his magic, teasing out the details of the case and incriminating the killer via the vial of poison disguised as a bottle of perfume. Afterwards the detective lead his cousin out of the club carefully, a scarf tied over his eyes to minimize visual stimulation brought on by whatever it was that happened. He brought all four of them to the Kudou house, and immediately told his little brother to fetch a glass of strong liquor for Kaito.

Shinichi's parents and the girls were confused that he wanted to give someone with a migraine alcohol, but Conan actually backed him up.

"Kaito-nii-chan's gonna need it if he wants to sleep." he chirped, a short glass of scotch in his hands. "Sudden sensory trances take a lot out of a person, he's overstimulated."

They got Kaito cleaned up and into a set of silk pajamas, blindfold still over his eyes and a fuzzy blanket draped over his lap. Aoko blushed at the sight of the white fabric, but she joined her boyfriend in the oversized armchair.

"What exactly's wrong with him?" she asked quietly, stroking his head. "And why the scotch?"

Conan smiled and stirred a spoonful of some kind of powder in the glass before giving it to Kaito. "If you mix the right additives to it, it really calms down overactive nerves." he said, adjusting the blanket once he was certain the magician had a firm grip on the glass and started to sip from it. "Right now he's shut down as many of his senses as possible, sight, hearing, smell, he knows where he is and that he's safe but he's ignoring the rest of the world."

Ran quirked a brow. "Is that really possible Conan-kun?" she asked. "Can a person really shut down their senses?"

"If you have the talent." Shinichi answered, bringing his black book out of nowhere. "We were trying to think of a way to break this to you two, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

"Nii-chan and Kaito-nii-chan are Magicians." Conan said, and the girls could hear the capital in the boy's words. "Nii-chan's is called a Druid and Kaito-nii-chan's a Dragonite, they're special kinds of magic."

"...Druid?" asked Ran.

"Dragonite?" repeated Aoko. "What the hell does that mean?"

"A Dragonite is the most powerful and versatile of Magicians, linked to at least two dragon clans, and Kaito is bonded to _five. _A Druid is a specialist magic user that connects with spirits of nature and those of the dead. I can interact with spirits and do various magical tricks concerning them, but Kaito can use his powers to do just about _anything_." the detective said, looking up something in his book. "Magicians of his caliber are rare, especially when it's the five Prism clans. Diamond, Moonstone, Crystal, Tourmaline, and Opal. Five dragon types named for stones known to have just about any color under the sun, valuable and versatile."

Aoko stared at her still silent boyfriend. "Magic...real magic?"

"Yes. Kaito should have been the one to say this, but at the moment he's rather indisposed. Tracker trances cause all seven senses to become hyper sensitive, and if you can't control it your brain becomes overstimulated."

Yukiko, having observed silently until now, piped up. "Shin-chan, refresh my memory, seven senses?"

"Sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are the normal senses," he began, "but a Dragonite Magician has eight. The first of the extras is Extra-Sensory-Perception standard to all magic users, but the degree one possesses can vary significantly. ESP is the ability to see and hear above and below standard perception, to see what is normally invisible to living eyes and to hear inaudible noise. If you're particularly gifted with it you can use it to speak telepathically, but neither of us has mastered that yet."

"But you'll get it eventually, right Nii-chan?"

Shinichi laughed and ruffled Conan's hair. "Yeah, we just need more practice, we're both still new to this. Anyway, the second extra sense that of energies, Extra Sensory Energy Perception, to 'feel' energy beyond heat and visualize it if you're lucky. Kaito got both ends of the stick in that department, he can feel, see, hear, and even smell magic residue, so that means he always tell where a person, spirit, spell, or creature is or was. He's always had that sense, since it manifests earlier than any other power, but it remains subdued until full powers emerge."

Despite the bizarreness of the conversation, Aoko made the connection to many memories of failing to sneak up on Kaito unless he was sick or concentrating on something particularly hard.

"The third extra sense belongs only to Dragonites, soul-mind sense, the ability to feel out a person's soul and delve into their minds. This sense does not activate unless it is purposefully triggered, mainly because it is so easily overwhelmed. He mentioned trying it out at school one time trying to gauge that witch in your class, and he passed out from the stress."

Oh yes, Aoko remembered that incident, the day he returned to school after his injury. One moment he was fine, if agitated with Akako sitting on his desk, the next he swayed dangerously and keeled over in a dead faint.

A thud of glass on carpet alerted them all to Kaito, having dropped the now empty scotch glass to the floor from limp hands. Yukiko dutifully picked it up. "Does he need another glass or should I go ahead and wash this?"

"No, he's had enough."

Aoko huffed. "And just how does alcohol help in this situation?"

"It's a depressant." chirped Conan, bouncing up into Shinichi's lap. "If you mix in Katikas's Remedy it makes a sensory suppressant. Kaito-nii-chan makes all the potions, so he gives us the stuff we'd need if he had an episode like this one."

Kaito leaned into Aoko's shoulder and snuggled into her side with a heavy sigh. The girl blushed, but didn't push him away.

Shinichi and Conan chuckled. "You might want to get changed for bed soon, he's not going to let you go easily once he falls asleep. If there's one thing I've learned after two of these episodes, it's that he's clingy when doped up and sensory-blind." the elder said. "He got Conan in a death grip the first time it happened."

Aoko blushed even redder, but allowed the other two women to help her pry Kaito off her long enough to move, leaving the room to find her some pajamas. Shinichi guided his cousin carefully to the guest bedroom and got him settled in the silk sheets set aside for these times.

Aoko came into the room, still pink in the face and wearing what Shinichi recognized as a lacy, knee length nightgown that Kaito had bought, but didn't have the nerve to give to her.

"Where on earth does your mother get these things?" she asked, arms wrapped around herself self-consciously.

Shinichi fought very, very hard not to laugh. "That's not my mom's, it's yours."

"WHAT?"

A snicker. "Kaito bought it, he just didn't have the guts to give it to you, so he stashed it here." he said. "If it helps, I was there when he got it in that boutique downtown you like, the one with the stuffed animals in the window. He was blushing like mad when he picked it out."

It did help, and Aoko smacked him on the arm lightly before climbing into the bed, putting Kaito's head in her lap. "Well, as long as you guys weren't being complete perverts in a lingerie store." she said, stroking her boyfriend's hair. "I was wondering, why all the silk?"

Shinichi shrugged. "It's a sensory thing. Silk and satin is less irritating to overstimulated skin, so he doesn't have to dampen down that last sense he has available. That, and he's sort of spoiled with it, it's a quirk of his."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Good night."

"Good night. Don't be too shocked if he grabs you in a bear hug in the middle of the night, he does that."

The detective turned off the lights and closed the door, leaving the pair to their sleep.

-xXx

Aoko wasn't sure what exactly it was that woke her, but when she did she realized that Kaito had her in a strong grip, spooned up to her and an arm around her waist, his breath tickling her neck.

She blushed furiously at the feel of his powerful body behind her, separated only by two layers of very thin, very slinky fabric. Even more was that his fingers were unconsciously tracing mindless patterns on her stomach and that his legs were tangled with hers, adding new heights to the heat pooling in her body.

Not even in her dreams did she imagine that she'd be in _this _position, in the same bed with Kaito between silk sheets and in such a revealing nightgown. Granted, said nightgown was on the modest end of the spectrum for lacy, satin nightwear, but it was still far more skin than she normally bared even in her own bed.

She shifted, grateful that she had shaved her legs just before their date, and just had to savor the feel of the silk against her smooth skin, and the ripple of Kaito's muscles as he responded to her movement in his sleep. Honestly it had never really occurred to her just how fit and tailored he was, but she had never seen him shirtless before...

Curiosity roused, she twisted in his grip and carefully extricated herself from his arms. He groaned, but she quieted him by running her fingers through his hair and along his jaw. Not quite believing that she was doing this, she slowly untied the blindfold he had fallen asleep with and examined his sleeping face in the faint light.

He was positively angelic in the calm of sleep. His face was softly boned and just shy of feminine, but still masculine. High cheekbones, a sharp but strong jaw, a perfectly shaped nose, and ever so slight pout to his lips. All the baby fat and boyish roundness had faded from his features, leaving the contours of an ideal bishonen face.

Aoko knew his face well, but it had only been recently that she had noticed just how...beautiful he was. He had been _boyish _cute for the longest time, but she had turned a blind eye to his _sexy _cute factor when they started high school.

Come to think of it, it had been the first year of high school that she had last seen him shirtless. He had stopped going to waterparks and pools at that time, and went to the beach always wearing loose t-shirts. Sure, he wore closer fitting gym shorts that showed off his legs, but hey, he was an acrobat, everyone knew how powerful a jumper he was. What no one knew was how toned his torso was, not even their male classmates who had to have seen him change in the locker room.

Aoko couldn't take it anymore, and carefully undid the buttons of his pajama top. Feeling more sensuous then she would have ever dared before, she traced the magnificent musculature of her boyfriend's incredibly sculpted torso.

He wasn't fit in the way a normal acrobat was, he was built like a lean, powerful marital artist. Well defined pectorals, washboard abs, and a trim waist, he was the image of every teenage girl's daydream. His shoulders were strong, but not bulky, in perfect balance to the rest of his body.

The only flaw, as Aoko found, was that his smooth skin wasn't quite that smooth in some places.

Her breath hitched at the unmistakable feel of a healing scar. Oh, she knew there was one on the left side of his abs and another in his left shoulder, but this one was grazing the _right _side just above his hip, a bullet scar.

She continued searching, more by feel than sight in the half light, and found several more scars. None of them were particularly ridged or deep deformations, all healing smooth at surface level, but not quite gone, almost all of them from bullets.

Kaito breath hitched as her hands passed over a particular spot on his lower abdomen, and the sound snapped Aoko into awareness of just what she was doing. While exploring, she had essentially been stroking him, something she had never done.

Her face burned in a deep flush as Kaito opened his eyes, breathing a touch quickly for just coming out of sleep.

"Aoko...oh god, don't stop...Aoko..." he gasped, arching into her touch.

It was then that she remembered that he was currently hypersensitive, every stroke magnified to who knows how much, and like a light going off in her head she smiled deviously. After all, Magician or not he was still an eighteen year old teen, and teen boys were helpless before raging hormones. A part of her she never acknowledged took over and was thoroughly enjoying having Kaito under her complete control. Giving into temptation, she pulled his shirt off entirely and straddled his lap, giving her the leverage to pin him to the bed.

"Shh, just let me take care of you Kaito." she whispered seductively in his ear, relishing in his gasp as her hair brushed his neck and how the shifting of her hips on his lap sent all kinds of pleasurable signals up his spine.

Feeling more confidant then she ever had before she continued exploring his body with firm, but teasing strokes, watching him writhe and moan beneath her.

"Aoko!" he gasped, grabbing her hips forcefully. "Gods, Aoko..."

With one sudden movement he surged up and kissed her hard, tongue darting into her mouth to taste her. Aoko responded just as fiercely, bringing her own tongue to battle his, tasting the scotch he'd had earlier.

They continued to kiss, hands roaming and stroking, until Kaito broke the kiss, breathing hard and falling back to the pillows, dragging Aoko on top of him.

"Shouldn't...not now...not here." he ground out. "I...I can't do that to you...not yet..."

She was disappointed, but she honored his wish. "If you say so, but you're going to tell me why in the morning mister Dragonite." she said, settling down against him, letting him feel every contour of her soft body against him, including her unbound chest. Somehow, against all expectations she quickly calmed down, and faded into sleep.


End file.
